About the Boston Button Factory

Fort Point’s Boston Button Factory is an homage to the vibrant history of a neighborhood that is rapidly changing its character. Blending the industrial and artistic strands which dominated its past, the BBF looks to keep this past alive by manufacturing buttons both large and small.

The Boston Button Factory, 1900 (detail)

The impetus for the BBF came when vintage photos were found which documented the original use of the building by the Boston Button Co., a button manufacturer which dissolved in 1872. In a nod to yesterday, the Boston Button Factory hearkens back to the days before cubicles, condos, and fancy restaurants to create a space where buttons are still manufactured through hard work and care. 

Today, the Boston Button Factory carries that legacy forward by creating oversized wall-art buttons that let you own a tangible piece of Boston’s past—reimagined for the present. Alongside these iconic art pieces, the Factory produces its own line of artist-designed clothing buttons, each one crafted as a miniature work of art rather than a simple sewing notion. Beyond its products, the Boston Button Factory lives on as an underground creative hub—doubling as an art gallery featuring the work of artist Ari Hauben and transforming into a one-of-a-kind event space where Boston’s art, history, and culture continue to converge.

               The Boston Button Factory, 1950                 

              The Boston Button Factory, Today