About FFNY

Friends From New York is an independent New York culture platform founded in 2019 by photographer and filmmaker Heidi Hartwig.

We bring together and document the artists, DJs, photographers, filmmakers, writers, designers, chefs and characters shaping the city through events, editorial, music, conversations, collaborations and objects.

What started as a dance party has grown into Art Nite, Book Salon, the Friends From New York: In Conversation podcast, dinners, cultural trips, products and parties built around the people who make New York New York.

We make things for lifers and the lovingly obsessed. Day-one New Yorkers, people who got here yesterday, and anyone paying attention. We care about the people adding something to the city, the places where they meet, and what is happening next.

Our Instagram is part living scrapbook, part cultural radar. The past matters because it tells us something about the present. But FFNY isn't here to mourn an old New York. Each generation gets to make its own.

Wear FFNY. Come to a party. Listen to a conversation. Meet somebody you didn't know before.

Friends From New York is New York culture from the inside.

Who We Serve

• Day‑one New Yorkers still making new New York.
• Artists, DJs, filmmakers, photographers, writers, designers, skaters, servers, sound techs, neighborhood heroes.
• Lifers who never left and the lovingly obsessed who carry the city’s heart everywhere.
• People who show up, pass it on, and keep the lights on.

From the Founder

Friends From New York started the way the best things do: organically.

I’m a city kid. Public school, private school, uptown, downtown. No money, all the money. New York shows you every version at once and teaches you grit with a side of grace. Growing up in 90s NYC, the city still felt raw. My generation took that layered upbringing and built culture with it. This place raised us.

While living in Berlin, my friends were fascinated by New Yorkers. It reminded me how the spirit of the city translates anywhere. I walked those neighborhoods thinking about my talented people back home and how to bring them forward. That’s when the name landed: Friends From New York.

This brand is a platform for the community that shaped me: artists, DJs, filmmakers, photographers, writers, designers, neighborhood heroes. Lifers who never left and anyone who carries that New York heart and hustle wherever they go.

Everyone wants a friend from New York. Life’s better when one shows up at the right time with the right energy. Welcome to FFNY. We’re just getting started.

—Heidi