MSCHF

MSCHF (pronounced "mischief", incorporated as MSCHF Product Studio, Inc.) is an American art collective and product studio headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2016 by Gabriel Whaley, it releases work as sequentially numbered "drops" spanning footwear, apparel, furniture, consumer goods, web apps, games, publications and performance pieces. Wikipedia reports roughly 30 employees; earlier coverage counted 13 full-time staff (2018-era Campaign profile) and 10 employees in January 2020.

The studio's output mixes physical objects with software and stunts. Recurring works include The Persistence of Chaos (2018), a 2008 Windows laptop loaded with six malware programs that sold for $1.34 million; Jesus Shoes (October 2019), Nike Air Max 97s with Jordan River holy water in the soles sold at $1,425; Severed Spots (April 2020), in which a $30,000 Damien Hirst spot print was cut into individual spots sold at $480 each with the remaining sheet selling for $261,400; Medical Bill Art (September 2020), paintings of Americans' medical bills sold for $78,000 with proceeds paying those bills; Birkinstocks (February 2021), sandals made from four Birkin bags priced $34,000-$76,000; Satan Shoes (March 2021), 666 modified Nike Air Max 97s sold at $1,018; Museum of Forgeries (October 2021), an Andy Warhol drawing bought for $20,000 alongside 999 forgeries sold at $250 each; Dead Startup Toys (July 2021); Tontine (December 2021); OnlyBags (January 2022); the Big Red Boot; and Tax Heaven 3000 (2023), a dating simulator that filed the player's taxes. Collaborations include Finger on the App with MrBeast, Satan Shoes with Lil Nas X, and product collections with Tiffany, Reebok, Gufram and AMG.

In August 2025 MSCHF created Applied MSCHF, an advertising agency operating as a division of the company and employing roughly half of its approximately 30 staff. The company also published Made by MSCHF, described as a "textbook" documenting its internal process.

Founding story

Founder Gabriel Whaley grew up in the rural American South with a Korean mother and an ex-military father and attended West Point for two years before dropping out. He taught himself to code and released internet projects, including a site selling bad advice on Twitter for $1 per tweet and Wingman, a Tinder clone that only worked on airplanes, publishing under the name "Miscellaneous Mischief." That work led to a job at BuzzFeed around 2013-2014, but the department he joined was shut down within about a year. MSCHF, whose name derives from "miscellaneous mischief," was founded in 2016; its first client work was Late Night Snap Hacks for Casper, followed by Insomnobot-3000.

Business model

MSCHF develops and sells its own products and artworks directly to consumers, historically committing to a new release roughly every two weeks in limited quantities. Items span low-priced consumer goods (a $10 toaster-shaped bath bomb) to high-value art objects and modified luxury goods sold for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Earlier in its history the company ran nontraditional ad campaigns for brands including Casper and Target, but stopped that work in September 2019 to focus on its own projects; in August 2025 it re-entered advertising by launching the Applied MSCHF agency division. It has also raised venture funding.

Revenue derives from direct sales of limited-run products, artworks and collaborations (for example a $1.34 million laptop artwork, $1,425 Jesus Shoes, $480 Hirst spot fragments, $250 Warhol forgeries, $1,018 Satan Shoes and made-to-order AMG furniture), plus client work through the Applied MSCHF advertising division. Business Insider noted in 2020 that it was unclear how the company made money and that it set aside no advertising or marketing budget.

Traction

Products routinely sell out within minutes of release, with individual works achieving high sale prices and broad press attention. Wikipedia reports MSCHF had received $11.7 million in funding as of July 2020; Business Insider, citing PitchBook, reported two closed rounds totaling $11.5 million as of January 2020. The Tontine project's prize pool stood at $71,400 with 123 players remaining as of April 2026. Finger on the App drew participants who held their phone screens for about 70 hours (first edition, four winners at $20,000 each) and roughly 51 hours in the 2021 sequel with a $100,000 grand prize.

Latest developments

In August 2025 MSCHF launched Applied MSCHF, an advertising agency division staffed by roughly half of the company's approximately 30 employees. The company released Made by MSCHF, a "textbook" documenting its internal creative process, and in an October 2025 interview the founder described a shift away from operating as a black box, toward physical-world work and longer-horizon projects. Recent releases include an AMG furniture collection of repurposed car parts, made to order and available until 31 May 2025.