Hip hip hooray! Ryan and I made it to NYC this past weekend for the grand opening of Color Factory! Back in March, we flew to San Francisco to attend the original Color Factory. It was so much fun that when we saw they were opening one in New York, with all new creative, we knew we had to go again. Color Factory is an interactive exhibit that originally opened in San Francisco back in late summer 2017. Originally, it was only supposed to be a one month long exhibit, however, it did so well and continued to sell out, it remained open until the Spring of 2018.
The same masterminds behind the original Color Factory- Leah Rosenberg, Jordan Ferney and Erin Jang have been hard at work collaborating with their creative teams and all new artists to deliver tons of colorful surprises to vistors. I've been following along on their social media accounts for sneak peeks into what Ryan and I could expect this time around and I have to say, it exceeded all expectations!
Prior to opening, the Color Factory team spent weeks collecting snippets of color from all over Manhattan. From street art and trash bags to lost Cookie Monster toys and pizza by the slice signs, their inspiration was drawn from sources big and small. The front of the Color Factory building was painted in stripes that represented several iconic NYC sites such as: taxi cabs, the F train, scaffolding, asphalt, bodega mums, pretzels, the Manhattan Bridge, subway tiles, brownstones, and bike lanes. Here's a peek into some of the surprises they had in store!
One of my favorite rooms was a live-action flow-chart designed by Molly Young. It began by asking if you prefer sunrises or sunsets and depending on your answer, takes you through a slew of dozens of other questions all pointing you towards one of three mystery doors. Once you land at either door 1,2 or 3, you step inside to retrieve your "secret color." After it reveals what color you are, it takes three photobooth pictures lit up in your new hue. Once you step out of the photo booth, there were dozens of colored tags hanging on the wall for you to pick up your secret color souvenir. My favorite part was that the flow-chart extended along the length of the floor and all of the walls and I loved seeing everyone take off in different directions based on their personalities. I won't reveal my specific shade that was bestowed upon me, it is a secret color after all, but I will tell you that mine was a shade of purple and Ryan's was a green.
You could tell that every decision made for each room was well thought through with intention and purpose. Several rooms were thought provoking and meaningful and the entire experience was nothing short of special. At the end of it all, they did another color map where their creative team worked with various local businesses, artists and restaurants to create another 20 or so additional color experiences around lower Manhattan. From murals to secret hidden artist prints, Ryan and I spent two days exploring and crossing off almost all of the stops on the list. I'll share a secondary post about several stops on the map post Color Factory!
All in all, I am so happy we were able to attend not only the original but this secondary location as well. It was so inspiring and I'm still dreaming of how much fun we had. If you are in NYC any time soon, make sure you don't miss Color Factory! They have tickets on sale through September but I am hoping it sticks around for a bit longer for more people to be able to experience!
