My name is Olli Payne - As a creator, curator, and thinker based in NYC, my work spans design, editorial, and cultural strategy, grounded in a long-term interest in the philosophy of aesthetics.

 

I tell people that I’m an artist, a futurist, and an optimist — though none of those labels quite covers it.

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As I see it, the world runs on systems, many of which are flawed, outdated, or weren't necessarily invited - designed by people with confliciting priorities and legitimized by a society that didn't know it had a choice. I work in the opposite direction, and at the level where the abstract meets the concrete: shaping the stories, aesthetics, and environments that help the right systems emerge.
 

I'm building the cultural and physical infrastructure for a future worth living in.

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PAST

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I'm mostly self-taught. I dropped out of high school, turned down university, and built my education around what I actually needed to know - including a stint at a secretive psychology research institute in the Bay Area that wasn't exactly accepting applications. At 21, I won a startup competition on national television. Later, I led the design team for an unannounced private estate project commissioned by a Silicon Valley billionaire, developing the design philosophy that now underpins everything I build.

 

In 2024 I was awarded a grant by O'Shaughnessy Ventures for Possibilia Magazine, my lit mag that publishes optimistic, realistic sci-fi. In 2025 I completed the Making+Meaning program at SCI-Arc - combining robots, wolfram fractals, and textile design to create a posture-correcting garment from a strip of canvas fabric and the letter Q.

 

CURRENT
 

I founded the Foundation for Future Aesthetics, through which I curate art exhibitions and publish Possibilia Magazine.

 

I'm co-leading an unannounced city-building project.

 

I volunteer in the community of the Quantum Biology DAO, where I help with community work on governance and sustainable funding models for decentralized science.

 

My next project is OURS, a group exhibition opening in NYC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LINKS

Foundation for Future Aesthetics
Possibilia Magazine - Story Submissions Open
Quantum Biology DAO

CONTACT

If any of this resonates, I’d love to hear from you.
Please reach out at [ olli . vision @ protonmail . com ] or via twitter dm @OlliPayne