About Cutting Edge Stencils
Our story
Cutting Edge Stencils produces some of the most beautiful and unique decorative stencils for today’s DIY-er. Janna Makaeva and Greg Swisher, long-time professional decorative artists, founded the company in 2008. Prior to that they ran the New York area's leading decorative painting company, Spec Fin (Specialty Finishes). During that time they completed hundreds of high profile decorating projects in collaboration with the area’s leading interior designers.
In 2008 we decided to use our wealth of painting and stenciling experience to empower and inspire the modern DIY-ers. And so our Cutting Edge Stencils was born! We started by offering a small collection of our professional stencils. We also shared free stencil videos full of professional tips and tricks, and DIY-ers loved it! We showed that anyone can stencil and decorate their home with our easy-to-use stencils and expert tips. People who never stenciled before started to send us beautiful pics of their stenciled projects, and we were amazed!
Soon our popularity among the DIY community soared. We’ve been featured on TV, in major design magazines and on 1000s of DIY blogs. We’ve created hundreds of beautiful, user friendly stencils and innovative stenciling tools such as our almost famous and patented Clip On Stencil Level. Cutting Edge Stencils has become one of the largest and most popular stencil companies with a huge following. Today we continue teaching, inspiring and empowering the ever growing DIY community.
The Inspiration Behind Cutting Edge Stencils
Meet The Team
JANNA MAKAEVA
CEO and Co-founder, Creative Director, Visionary,
"Stencil Queen"
GREG SWISHER
CEO and Co-founder Creative Director, Video Producer,
"Old Painter"
ALEX
Manager / Technical Genius
ERIKA
The friendliest customer service in town
ERIKA LEE
Multimedia Associate, aka. "Stencil Guru"
KARLI
Social Media Queen /Marketing Manager
FRANCISCO
Shop Manager and Shipping Master
Our Stencil Shop & Creative Studio
Our Core Values: What We Believe In
Recycling
Cutting Edge Stencils is committed to reducing and recycling all possible waste. This is in keeping with our attitude of using our stencils to up cycle and repurpose furniture instead of filling a landfill. Our commitment is evident by our efforts to deliver specific plastic waste to specific recyclers outside of our state. We have a complete in-house recycling program which we continue to refine.
Doing Good and Helping Others
Cutting Edge Stencils cares. So we donate stencils, stenciling materials and make contributions to various charitable organizations such as Emanuel Cancer Foundation, Rooms That Rock 4 Chemo, Mahwah Environmental Volunteer Organization, Amazon Watch, Food And Water Watch, AnimalKind and our local schools. To us, giving back is not optional. It’s a mandatory practice for a sustainable community.
Inspiring Creativity and Sustainability
"Let no curbside furniture go unstenciled!" Cutting Edge Stencils was formed as an extension of Janna and Greg’s personal creativity. Both understand the benefits of expressing yourself, in art, music and lifestyle. Stencils are a tool that helps us to up-cycle and re-use things, thus helping to minimize our impact on the planet. Stencils also help us to create gifts and future family heirlooms and to embellish our homes in a way that brings us to a happier place.
