Economic engine

It’s official: Tesla moves headquarters into new $1.1 billion Austin factory

Tesla's headquarters is officially calling Austin home.

Courtesy of Tesla

In fairly short order, Elon Musk has followed through on his promise to move Tesla’s headquarters to Austin.

Effective December 1, the maker of electric vehicles is based at 13101 Harold Green Rd. — the site of Tesla’s $1.1 billion nearly completed auto manufacturing plant. That’s according to a Tesla filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The factory (with the new headquarters now tucked inside) is near State Highway 130 and State Highway 45, just east of Austin’s city limits.

Until this month, Tesla’s headquarters officially remained in Palo Alto, California, north of San Jose.

In October, Musk made the unplanned — but not unexpected — announcement that Tesla would relocate its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin. The announcement came during the company’s annual shareholder meeting, held at the Austin factory.

The factory, situated on 2,100 acres, is expected to employ at least 5,000 people. It’s unknown how many corporate employees will work from the relocated headquarters.

Musk, CEO of Tesla, had foreshadowed the corporate move. Last year, Musk threatened to shift Tesla’s headquarters to Texas or Nevada after he clashed with Northern California officials over a pandemic-triggered shutdown of the company’s factory in Fremont, California.

Well ahead of the headquarters relocation, Musk moved from California to Texas himself. It’s unclear where Musk lives now, although some media outlets have listed his residence as Austin and others have reported he has settled down along the Gulf Coast. Musk’s SpaceX business operates a rocket-launching site in Boca Chica, a little over 20 miles northeast of Brownsville.

Musk also has moved his private foundation’s main office from Northern California to Austin. In addition, the LinkedIn profile for Musk’s The Boring Co. now lists Pflugerville as its headquarters. The company, which specializes in underground tunnels for transportation, had been based in Hawthorne, California, a Los Angeles suburb.

Regardless of where in the Lone Star State Musk has set down roots, he’s now by far the richest resident of Texas. His current net worth is around $300 billion. Musk derives much of his fortune from the stock he owns in Tesla, which racked up revenue of $31.5 billion in 2020.

Based on annual revenue, Tesla ranks 100th on the Fortune 500 list of the country’s biggest publicly traded companies. Only two public companies with headquarters in the Austin area are larger than Tesla — Round Rock-based Dell Technologies, at No. 28 on the Fortune 500 with $94.2 billion in annual revenue, and Austin-based Oracle, at No. 80 with $40.5 billion in annual revenue.

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SKIN IN THE GAME

Renowned Hill Country tattoo artist inks new sacred geometry app

Photo courtesy of Dillon Forte

Dillion Forte at his "tattoo ranch" in the Texas Hill Country.

In the world of tattooing, there may seem to be few better rat traps left to build, but Dillon Forte aims to change that. In October, the renowned Wimberley-based tattoo artist and entrepreneur introduced a new iPadOS app to bring ancient symbology into the digital age.

Forte has made a worldwide name for his black dot work (a contemporary take on stick-and-poke techniques) and ambitious undertakings like tattooing underwater and opening a “tattoo ranch.” His ink appears on Usher, Chris Hemsworth, and Kehlani.

Still, he is most recognized for his sacred geometry designs, using patterns to convey various meanings. His interest led him to create the Sacred Geometry Drawing App, a convenient way for novices and experts to develop and export their creations.

The app grew out of his own practice. Over the past decade, he has used tablets and freehand techniques to achieve his highly symmetrical artwork but grew to realize existing tools were not always easy to use.

“The app is an attempt and fulfillment of my desire to make sacred geometry accessible and bring the ability to create into the fingertips of as many people as possible,” Forte tells CultureMap via email, adding a tagline: “symmetry made simply.”

He says he wished the app was available when developing his signature style as a tattoo artist, but it was designed with a broad range of users in mind. He hopes that designers, educators, and artists will find a use for it.

A short intro to the app's capabilities is available on YouTube. It looks like a standard drawing app, starting with a blank canvas and some tools like pens, pencils, colors, and of course, straight line and dot makers.

A "symmetry index" anchors the functionality and expands it to something between 2D art and 3D modeling. In addition to generating shapes like repeating patterns and spirals, the app also creates 3D shapes with grids, so that the artist can map their design in real space or even create sculptures. There is also an index for explaining the spiritual meaning of some standard designs.

“Geometry often prompts an intimidating feeling when it comes to making art,” Forte continues. “The fundamentally complex and often academic nature of math-based art can induce a sense of fear in the potential user instead of creating a sense of awe. The purpose of the sacred geometry app is to cultivate the latter."

Creatives interested in constructing their own geometric masterpieces can download the app at the App Store for free, and in-app purchases are available.

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SKIN IN THE GAME

Renowned Hill Country tattoo artist inks new sacred geometry app