The Factory was the name of Andy Warhol’s New York City studio, which had three different locations between 1962 and 1984.
The Factory was the hip hangout for artistic types, amphetamine (speed) users, and the Warhol superstars. It was famed for its groundbreaking parties. In the studio, Warhol’s workers would make silkscreens and lithographs under his direction.
By the time Warhol had achieved a reputation, he was working day and night on his paintings. Warhol used silkscreens so that he could mass-produce images the way corporations mass-produced consumer goods. To increase production, he attracted a ménage of adult film performers, drag queens, socialites, drug addicts, musicians, and free-thinkers who became known as the Warhol Superstars, to help him. These “art-workers” helped him create his paintings, starred in his films, and created the atmosphere for which the Factory became legendary.