About

Index provides space for the exchange of knowledge and tools. We nurture trust within the creative community through generosity and abundance of ideas and care.

We are a community of designers, poets, technologists, aesthetes, joke tellers, readers, eaters, artists, commies, freaks, and friends. What unifies us is our belief that creativity isn’t diminished when shared — that generosity and care are integral to our creative practices.

Founded during the pandemic, Index is a space where the public can come and teach, learn, converse and share. We produce digital and occasionally physical programs that bring people together to learn about things like creative coding, architecture, and animation — as well as programs that bring people together simply for the sake of being together, like our collective readings and group meditations. Read about our pedagogy.

We exist within the ethereal territory of garden3d, a collective of creative studios and enterprises including Sanctuary Computer, XXIX, and Manhattan Hydraulics. Index was, and continues to be, designed, built, and supported by garden3d.

Our core team includes:

Sam Taylor, who’s also a product strategist at Manhattan Hydraulics. Sam is a natural facilitator with a keen instinct for conversation and holding space for multiple perspectives. He joins us from Richmond, VA, where he used to work as a librarian.

Jacob Heftmann, principle of XXIX, who founded the predecessor to Index, a storefront community space in the East Village called XXXI where the graphic design community could exhibit noncommercial work, throw parties, and drink beers on the stoop. Jacob and his former partner Jake Hobart came up with Index’s visual identity and many of our core tenets. Jacob lives out of a backpack, usually in Mexico or Italy.

Hugh Francis, who founded garden3d and Sanctuary Computer. Hugh works to make Index a profitable contribution to the g3d environment by giving us methods and means to organize and support ourselves. He’s based in New York, drives an old Chevy truck, and enjoys gnarly Western ski slopes.

Conor Davidson, an OG member of Sanctuary Computer based in Portland. He coordinates all the technical development of the Index platform, and is responsible for making our lives easier all the time. When he’s not writing code, Conor is probably working on his gut biome.

Simone Robert, who’s a designer at Manhattan Hydraulics and brings a bunch of that good product thinking to the design of the Index platform. She’s a really kind and caring teammate, and is great at aesthetic free-association and keeping sourdough starter alive. Simone is based in New York.

Elie Andersen, who is also based in New York and has been growing Index and XXXI since 2015. Elie does most of the writing, positioning and communication on, around, and for Index, in fact she is writing this bio of herself right now (Hi)! She’s also a graphic designer and an avid grocery shopper.

Alexa Ann Bonomo is a new media artist and educator based in San Francisco. Alexa is working on developing the experimental approaches to pedagogy at Index. She curates and coordinates with the lovely people that come through the community online and IRL to develop an enriching learning environment for all. She also enjoys printmaking and crafting lore.