As founder of The Keystone Design Union (KDU) and clothing label Serum Versus Venom (SVSV), David Gensler’s business card reads CEO, Strategist and Designer. But those terms hardly describe the realm of his work. This man has a strong vision. He recognizes and connects creative talent all over the world, expresses his ideas through garments, home goods, jewelry and photography, consults various clients such as LVMH Hennessy, Burton Snowboards, MTV, Nike and Stussy (just to name a few) and masterminds out-of-the-box projects for these brands. Most remarkably, David stays true to his vision, not caring about what the rest of the industry is doing. For his clothing line, he deliberately decided to make himself independent from the fashion calendar and produces his collections at his own pace in his in-house factory.

One of his close friends is painter, sculptor and video artist Kostas Seremetis, who impresses with an extraordinary output of iconographical works that mostly reinterpret characters from popular culture. He has been entitled a “superhero, whose powers are art,” which describes Kostas pretty aptly. Throughout his career he established a large international following and his works have been exhibited among artist like Gerhard Richter and Jean Michel Basquiat.

The Avant/Garde Diaries visited both friends in each of their Brooklyn studios and got a pretty interesting insight on their dynamic friendship. As they fuel each other’s work and consider another as avant-garde, they decided to introduce each other. “I think that new avant-garde is more about doing something without too many fingerprints being left from other references,” David introduces Kostas art. “If David is looking for a jacket or some sort of shirt, and he can’t buy that material, he’ll make it,” Kosta says about David. “So I guess what we are guilty of is just making things that we feel are absent in culture.” We couldn’t agree more.

Find out more abouts Kostas Seremetis and David Gensler’s brands The KDU and SVSV

Editorial Lead Kitty Bolhoefer / Filming & Photos Fridolin Schöpper / Editing Konterfei / Music BUNNYSTRIPES