DESIGN AND FOOD CREATIVES ANNOUNCE FRESH RETAIL CONCEPT FOR LIFESTYLE BRAND

| New York, NY - September 18, 2017 | World renowned interior designer Mark Zeff, his wife Kristen, and acclaimed celebrity Chef John Doherty have combined their expertise to open the flagship BLACKBARN shop, cafe & bar on the ground floor of New York City’s Chelsea Market this fall. The creative trio envisioned a distinctive environment where food and design meld together, combining a homewares and accessories shop with a café & bar, to create the total brand experience.

The successful, multi-faceted lifestyle brand, BLACKBARN, was born from the home Mr. Zeff created in East Hampton, New York. Inspired by a shared sensibility, Chef Doherty and Zeff aligned for the design of their NoMad area Black Barn Restaurant and the Zeff’s extended the lifestyle brand with their BLACKBARN Shop in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Now, together with Chef Doherty, they’re creating their flagship shop, cafe & bar in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market.

Mr Zeff, owner and principal of his highly awarded design firm MARKZEFF, with Mrs Zeff, travels the world to purchase and import unique pieces for the home. The couple also pairs with companies on product development for the U.S. market, such as with the venerated Dutch brand, Serax, and the elegant furniture line from Barcelona, Arxe, that will be making an American debut at the flagship’s opening.

“BLACKBARN has the facility to integrate all elements of your lifestyle, capturing the exotic and worldly inspirations that define your vision,” says Mark Zeff. He goes on, “The flagship will blur the lines, enabling a complete experience from entrance to exit: you can dine and furnish your entire home at BLACKBARN, from furniture to linens to kitchenware, with reasonably priced, hand-selected items.”

Chef John Doherty, who helmed the kitchen at the Waldorf-Astoria in it’s glory years for more than two decades, has created a warm and inviting menu which includes dishes like Grilled Tuna Nicoise, Wild Mushroom Toast, and the Mission Fig Pizza.

All of the tableware, flatware, glasses and linens used in the café were hand-selected and designed by the BLACKBARN team and will be available for sale in the shop. The café’s branded specialty food items such as jams, jellies, spices, sauces, chocolates, coffee and nuts will also be sold, with a portion of proceeds going to Heavenly Harvest Foundation to create meals for those in need.

The BLACKBARN Shop in Chelsea Market will be a fully integrated experience. Bringing an outdoor inspired element, BLACKBARN has asked Lexington Gardens of New York City's Upper East Side, to develop an enchanted garden store as a way of completing the BLACKBARN lifestyle. The arrangements, made to resemble living displays, are constructed of authentic yet non-living materials such as dried poppy pods, boxwood, moss, and ferns. The store will also include a library curated by Aaron Hicklin of One Grand Books, a project that has risen to fame for its celebrity-selected book lists. 

“Since its inception, the market has been an anchor to the West Chelsea neighborhood, and we’ve worked hard to make sure the right mix of food purveyors and grocers are available to area residents and visitors. The addition of BLACKBARN will further strengthen the retail offerings of Chelsea Market and will continue to elevate the shopping experience offered to locals,” added Michael Phillips, President of Jamestown, owner of Chelsea Market.

BLACKBARN
The BLACKBARN lifestyle brand represents a blend of industrial, artful, refined, and understated sensibilities. It redefines luxury, from creating bespoke homes for those who desire unconventional simplicity to combining farm vernacular with elegant style in a carefully curated group of objects. The brand’s ethos and aesthetic come to life in a DUMBO, Brooklyn shop, filled with hand-selected furniture and homeware pieces, custom-designed and sourced from around the world; it takes an additional dimension at New York City’s Black Barn Restaurant where seasonal, rustic fare meets a modern farmhouse atmosphere.

The most recent development, BLACKBARN Chelsea Market shop, cafe & bar, is set to open in late Fall 2017, and will change the way New Yorkers dine and shop for home goods by uniting hospitality and retail, in a homewares and accessories shop with a café & bar, to create the total brand experience.

The storied system behind the brand is perhaps best captured in the book, BLACKBARN, published by ORO Editions in 2015.

MARK ZEFF
Mark Zeff, founder of the world-renowned and namesake design firm MARKZEFF, is a lifestyle thought leader for hotel design, architecture, residential and restaurant design, and home furnishings inspired by extensive globe-trotting. A native of South Africa, Mark has numerous ongoing residential projects as well as hospitality projects for Virgin Hotels, Canopy by Hilton, Kimpton and others. Mark, with his wife Kristen, is also the visionary behind BLACKBARN, a lifestyle brand that embodies living with ease, sumptuous beauty, and style simultaneously, first realized in the design of his Hamptons home. For more information, please visit www.blackbarnshop.com. 

KRISTEN ZEFF
Kristen Zeff is native North Carolinian and a graduate of the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. Following a stint at the Parson’s School of Design, Kristen worked as a management consultant for both Deloitte and Accenture and served numerous Fortune 500 clients. Kristen left the corporate world in 2015 to start BLACKBARN with Mark and brings a feminine perspective to the brand. For more information, please visit www.blackbarnshop.com.

JOHN DOHERTY
Chef John Doherty comes with an impressive background which includes a 30-year legacy at the Waldorf Astoria, 23 of those years serving as the Executive Chef and running the four hotel restaurants, as well as their catering and room service offerings. Throughout the years, he has cooked for more kings, presidents, and heads of state than any other chef.

He authored The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook, and received the prestigious James Beard Silver Spoon Award, an Honorary Doctorate from Johnson and Wales University, and an Honorary Masters Degree from the Culinary Institute of America. He founded the Heavenly Harvest Foundation to create nutritious and quality meals for those in need. Currently, he’s the Chef- Owner of Black Barn Restaurant, an American restaurant serving local, artisanal food, in the comfort of a space reminiscent of a modern barn where seasonal, rustic fare meets a farmhouse atmosphere. The interior was designed by Mark Zeff which was inspired by his barn-like home in the Hamptons. For more information, please visit www.blackbarnrestaurant.com.

CHELSEA MARKET
Since it opened its doors to the public in 1996, Chelsea Market has been the insider's resource for artisanal goods in Manhattan. Chelsea Market is an authentic destination for culinary connoisseurs, chefs and local residents. Serving as the bridge between two iconic Manhattan neighborhoods, Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, Chelsea Market continues its commitment to the artisanal marketplace and craft manufacturing, and to the community that surrounds it. For more information, visit www.chelseamarket.com.