Elizabeth McTaggart Art Collections

The Factory

The Factory was the name of Andy Warhol's New York City studio, which had three different locations between 1962 and 1984. The original Factory was on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The Factory was the hip hangout for artsy types, amphetamine users, and the Warhol superstars. It was famed for its groundbreaking parties. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs. The original Factory was often referred to by those who frequented it as the Silver Factory. Covered with tin foil and silver paint, the Factory was decorated by Warhol's friend Billy Name, who was also the in-house photographer at the Factory. Warhol would often bring in silver balloons to drift around the ceiling. The silver represented the decadence of the scene, as well as the proto-glam of the early sixties. Silver, fractured mirrors, and tin foil were the basic decorating materials loved by the early amphetamine users of the sixties. Billy Name was the perfect person to take this style and cover the whole factory, even the elevator. By combining the industrial structure of the unfurnished studio with the glitter of silver and what it represented, Warhol was commenting on American values, as he did so often in his art. The years spent at the Factory were known as the Silver Era, not solely because of the design, but because of the decadent and carefree lifestyle full of money, parties, drugs and fame.