Jesse Keyes (born December 15, 1971) is an American design entrepreneur. He developed One 7th Avenue South and created and co-owns the restaurant Hotel Griffou and the fashion label Karolina Zmarlak.

Early life

Born in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Stanford is ...

, Keyes studied urban planning at the

Woodrow Wilson School The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, earning a B.A. in 1995. He was awarded a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

to study architecture in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

where he earned a Master's degree from the

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya The Technical University of Catalonia ( ca, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, , es, link=no, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña; UPC), currently referred to as BarcelonaTech, is the largest engineering university in Catalonia, Spai ...

in 1997. He received a Masters of Science from the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in 1999. He completed a

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

(M.Phil.) in urban planning from the Bloustein School in 2016.

Career

Keyes founded MODO to house his spatially based endeavors to use modern techniques in fashion, design, and building under one roof. in 2008, Keyes completed the development of ''One Seventh Avenue South'', a triangular condominium building in downtown

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

where Keyes "was looking for a development opportunity," he said, "to make a statement." He is co-owner and operating partner at Hotel Griffou where the design makes reference to New York's past. The house "embodies the essential modernist tenet of building what you need and nothing more." MODO designed and developed the Intent Media work environment. Keyes is the co-founder and Executive Producer of the Karolina Zmarlak product development studio, known as KZ_K Studio. Keyes worked with Zmarlak to make conceptual and versatile pieces. With Zmarlak, their fashion label was selected as one of sixty "Premier Designers" in the uppermost design category at

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

Direct. Keyes produced a film for Zmarlak that was launched on ''

W Magazine ''W'' is an American fashion magazine that features stories about style through the lens of culture, fashion, art, celebrity, and film. W was created in 1972 by James Brady, the publisher of sister magazine ''Women's Wear Daily'' (''WWD''), ori ...

s Fashion Film series: "Double Identity/Podwojna Tozsamosc was inspired by Women of Communism in Poland." The partners maintain a "commitment to using luxury fabrications and focusing on craftsmanship." The studio’s product designs are undergirded by "Modernist European tailoring with innovative techniques." Vogue has covered the designs, launching fashion films produced by Keyes, and stating that "convertibility" is the studio’s “thing." Keyes designed E_P in the basement of the old

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

, which is now below the

John Varvatos John Varvatos (born 1954) is an American menswear designer. Early life The Varvatos family is originally from the village of Poulata on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. Varvatos was born in Detroit and grew up in Allen Park, Michigan. He ...

boutique on the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

. He also designed the XIX lounge on Kenmare Street. He wrote a column for '' Blackbook Magazine'', entitled "Dark Design," concerning the aesthetics of nightlife. For President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's second inauguration, Keyes hosted a gathering for around 400 guests-including

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

and

Chrissy Teigen Christine Diane Teigen (born November 30, 1985) is an American model and television personality. She made her professional modeling debut in the annual ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue in 2010 and later appeared on the 50th anniversary co ...

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

Sophia Bush Sophia Anna Bush Hughes (born July 8, 1982) is an American actress. She starred as Brooke Davis in The WB/ CW drama series ''One Tree Hill'' (2003–2012), and as Erin Lindsay in the NBC police procedural drama series ''Chicago P.D.'' (2014– ...

, and Zmarlak at the residence of his grandfather, architect Arthur H. Keyes. Keyes and Zmarlak opened a new studio under the KZ_K Studio label on

Great Jones Street __NOTOC__ Great Jones Street is a street in New York City's NoHo district in Manhattan, essentially another name for 3rd Street between Broadway and the Bowery. The street was named for Samuel Jones, a lawyer who became known as "The Fathe ...

in 2022. The studio had its launch event on April 12, 2022.

References

External links

The One Seventh Official SiteKarolina Zmarlak Official SiteV MagazineThenextweb.comNeimanmarcus.comMODO Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Jesse 1971 births Living people American urban planners Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Rutgers University alumni Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni People from Stanford, California Polytechnic University of Catalonia alumni Fulbright alumni