Stripe City
For a couple of years, I’d been having the fun conversations with Travis McCall at Stripe Labs. He leads this awesome team— people trusted to do things no one explicitly asked for.
By 2025, the right moment finally appeared: they asked if BlackBox could help create something special for Stripe’s Black Friday–Cyber Monday celebration.
The ask: a dynamic, web-based 3D city visualizing live economic activity.
Fun, tech-forward, and very BlackBox.
But I couldn’t shake another idea.
I called my friend Chris Webb for a gut-check. His studio FX WRX are the torch bearers of modern in-camera magic (for Wes Anderson and others).
When Chris immediately said, “hell yes” the idea stopped being reckless and started being real.
I returned to Stripe, held my breath, and went off-brief:
“What if we just produced a 96hr livestream of a physical miniature city?”
Not only did Travis and the Stripe team light up— they told me they discussed this internally, but written it off. Chris & FX WRX could make the impossible possible, and the idea took off. Full throttle.
Not only did Travis and the Stripe team light up— they told me they discussed this internally, but written it off. Chris & FX WRX could make the impossible possible, and the idea took off. Full throttle.
In the following weeks Stripe, BlackBox, and FX WRX collaborated closely on what I’d describe as Vibe Civic Engineering. Defining districts, architecture styles, data-triggered rules, conditions, and processes. Immaculate planning with intentional openings to be informed by the unexpected— whether craft, constraints, or whimsy.
FX WRX’s Brooklyn Studio became a hotbed of activity. Revising schematics. Assembling buildings. 3D printing cars.
Painting figurines. Digital experts (both Stripe and BlackBox) wrapped their mindset around Chris’ physical engineering. It was exciting, infectious, and full of momentum.
Stripe’s Phillip Antoni brought tremendous vision and detail to the purpose of every building, billboard and brick. His teammate Devin Jacoviello brought tons of design and technical insight, but above all else was breathing clever joy into the concept.
Many others at Stripe put their faith in this crazy project, but also put wind in it’s sails through comms, partnerships, and much more.
On Black Friday morning, the livestream launched. Within the first 90 minutes, Stripe City became it’s own conversation. Founders posted zoomed-in screenshots of their buildings.
People marveled at the craft. Designers asking, “what are they feeding them at Stripe?”
Building Stripe City wasn’t easy (and neither was running a heavily coordinated 96hr livestream), but never shook the initial excitement of “we have to make this”. I’m deeply grateful to Stripe for manifesting the conditions, confidence and trust to make something like this.
And I can’t wait to partner again with FX WRX— a team who didn’t just make it possible but reinforced that highly digital ecosystems benefit from the purest forms of craft and creativity.