Zero + Maria Cornejo opened in 1998 as a purely retail concept when, prompted by a desire to re-connect with the core of her ideas about design, cutting and garment construction, Chilean-born designer Maria Cornejo transformed a raw space in New York’s Nolita into a very personal store and atelier named Zero. The name was an expression of a pure vision: a number that neither adds nor subtracts; it is, rather, a point of departure.