Extrapolation Factory

The Extrapolation Factory is a design-based research studio for participatory futures studies, founded by Chris Woebken and Elliott P. Montgomery. The studio develops experimental methods for collaboratively prototyping, experiencing and impacting future scenarios.

Central to these methods is the creation of hypothetical future props and their deployment in familiar contexts such as 99¢ stores, science museums, vending machines and city sidewalks. With this work, the studio is exploring new territories for democratized futures by rapidly imagining, prototyping, deploying and evaluating visions of possible futures on an extended time scale. 


email: extrapolationfactory@gmail.com

metaverse: Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, Vimeo

studio mailing address:
Extrapolation Factory
19 Morris Ave
11205 Brooklyn, NY

We have worked with many partners and organizations including the following:
Autodesk Research
Canadian Centre for Architecture
Columbia University’s Studio-X NYC
The Dalton School
Eyebeam
Forum for the Future
Ginkgo Bioworks
IDEO
Parsons School of Design
The Royal College of Art
Storefront for Art and Architecture
SVA’s Products of Design
TED
Museum of Arts and Design
National Center for Atmospheric Research
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
NYC Emergency Management
NYU
Ontario College of Art and Design
UNICEF
University of Southern California
Walker Art Center
Z33


We've been featured or mentioned in the following:
Axis Magazine, Vol. 194, ‘Extrapolation Factory - Design Futures Studio’ by Kyoko Nakajima

Designboom - 'LEXUS design award 2018: extrapolation factory's testing hypotheticals is grand prix winner'

Architectural Digest - 'The Extrapolation Factory Selected by Paola Antonelli and Sir David Adjaye as Lexus Design Award Winner' by Katherine Mcgrath

Star Tribune - 'Artists create 'Interspecies Postal Service' to monitor climate change' by Alice Eler

Vice - 'Inter-Species Mailboxes Make a Different Kind of Human-Animal Connection' by Catherine Chapman

Avant - 'Alternative Unknowns' by Chris Woebken & Elliott Montgomery

Walker Art Center - 'The Future Should Come in Multiples: A Conversation with Extrapolation Factory' by Jaqueline Stahlmann

Core 77 - ‘Extrapolation Factory Wants Us to Pay More Attention to Our Future'

TED Fellows on Medium - ‘How to Invent the Future in 6 Easy Steps' by Karen Francis Eng

Trytobegood - ‘Extrapolation Factory x TRYTOBEGOOD | July 25, 2016' by Fei Liu

Wired - 'Synthetic Biology Is … Complex. But This Exhibit Makes It a Blast' by Liz Stinson

NYTimes Labs (talk) - 'Democratizing Speculative Design'



The Atlantic - 'Role-Playing the Next Big Disaster' by Jessica Leigh Hester

Core77 - 'Request a gift from the future and it's shipped!' by Allan Chochinov

TED Fellows on Medium - 'Want to send someone a gift from the future?' by Karen Eng

Dezeen - 'The Extrapolation Factory Holds Workshops That Explore Possible Futures' by Alyn Griffiths

PSFK - 'Gene Cleaners and Robo-Frogs will fill Pawn Shop of the future' by Janet Burns

Wired - '14 Goofy Gadgets You Might Find in Pawn Shops in 2050' by Liz Stinson

KASK University (lecture) - 'The Extrapolation Factory'



Gizmodo - 'Designing Future Objects for the Home with Extrapolation Factory' by Geoff Manaugh

CNN - 'Animal DNA and Mars kits: Christmas gifts of the future?' by Sheena McKenzie

Gizmodo - 'New Yorkers Receive Junk Mail From The Future' by Adam Clark Estes

Core 77 - 'How to Send Passersby Junk Mail from the Future, by the Extrapolation Factory'

Dazed Digital - 'Extrapolation Factory will sell you the future' by Sam Hart

Vice Motherboard - 'Students Developed the Street Cart of the Future, and Their Ideas Are Awesome' by Nadja Sayej

Lincoln Reimagine - 'A Study of the Present' by Market Road Films

Pecha Kucha - '99¢ Futures'

Huffington Post - 'Stanley Kubrick Put the Science in Science Fiction' by Gerry Flahive

Core 77 - 'Speculative Professional Winner, 2013 Design Awards'

Wired - 'Extrapolation Factory at Studio-X NYC' by Bruce Sterling

Studio-X NYC - 'Studio-X NYC was transformed into a sweatshop'

The City Atlas - 'Ingenuity in the Extrapolation Factory' by Camille Baumann-Jaeger