Colleen Crivello, fashion designer and owner of kids brand CHaLK NYC opens this series of NY mom’s portraits by photographer Zoe Adlersberg. Originally from LA, Colleen lives in Tribeca with husband Roberto – an Italian designer raised in Montreal, and their 3 year old daughter Alba. The little family spends their week ends in their newly renovated beach house in Norfolk, where mornings are spent swimming in the sea and afternoons tending a vegetable garden. Colleen’s philosophy is based an attempt at contrast and balance : city and country, fashion and farming, aesthetics and utility, italian and american.

Family Life in NYC

Memorable moments or situations you loved with your child ? My daughter is finally at an age (3.5 years) that we are able to have real magical conversations and a laugh, where a walk turns into an adventure and we are truly sharing moments. We take photos everywhere and NY is so amazing for this…we stroll down the street, pop in shops, sit for croissants and stop for photo-ops.

 3 favorite NY ideas ?

– Picnics in the park

– Taking a cab together (she thinks this is the greatest adventure along with the subway…she already is able to hail the cab…such a city kid)

– My closet, she gives great sartorial advice and we play dress up together.

Your favorite family movie to see again and again ? We’re not really there yet, I suppose Frozen has been an obvious regular in our house but we are yet to really have family movie time. What I am trying to develop rather is Sunday reading time, I have this idea that we could sit together as a family every sunday and sit quietly together while everyone reads their book or newspaper of choice (obviously this is still a work in progress, but sometimes we can capture as much as 20 min. together).

Your daughter is…? Confident, spicy, witty, full of love, fearless, a leader, strong willed, sharp, kind, caring, stylish, nightowl, feminine but prefers to play with the boys.

A big dream ? There are many

…a big dream for my daughter is that she grow to be a healthy, confident, genuine and successful person both in love and life and that I am able to guide her in every way possible. I want to give my daughter a foundation, a strong family, a sense of security and I want to give her freedom, the ability to be herself and follow her dreams.

…a big dream for my family is that we discover together. That we are able to live in new places, learn about different cultures, travel the world and also build a few more homes together.

…a big dream for myself is to enjoy the journey, be it rocky or smooth. To build CHaLK NYC into a lifestyle brand and to find balance while doing so. To always maintain a sense of freedom, youth and discovery. To have long lasting friendships and love.

What is La vie en rose for you?  La vie en rose means life being ideal, the rose-colored glasses moment when life is perfect; time spent out at our beach house; wandering the city aimlessly, then stopping for a glass of wine or two with no rush to be anywhere; that moment the plane takes off and you know you’re on your way to an adventure…

The internet to our family is….? Love it! The internet is truly incredible! Can you imagine to be a child in this age? To be able to access information at all time and have answers to all of your questions immediately.

Best album to listen to as a family? Beyonce Drunk in Love or Rhinanna Shine Like a Diamond in the car at the beach with all of the windows down and hair blowing in the wind.

Focus on Colleen

Your best mothering moment? When my daughter was born and truly experiencing unconditional love. It’s the most all-encompassing, crippling, exhilarating feeling in the world.

Your worst mothering moment? My constant struggle to exhibit patience and to be present in the moment with my daughter.

How do you balance motherhood and work? Still learning…but what I try to focus on is that weekends are for family time and to do my best to be present in the moment, when working, work and when at home, be at home, easily said yet not always easily achieved.

Photography/art – favorite masters and why? Dance

Where do you find inspiration? The details in a friends home, women business owners, Instagram, friendship, interior spaces and new places.

A memory/image from your childhood ? Growing up in LA meant always being active, we hiked, we biked, we skied and swam. Life there is a beautiful balance, part city part nature. We always traveled growing up, I saw incredible places from an early age, Jamaica, Kauai, Croatia, Tokyo and so on.

 

Colleen and Roberto Crivello are designers and brand builders, they own/operate FDS a design studio in NYC focused on creativity and commerce for the fashion industry (mens, womens, kids apparel and accessories). www.federationdesignstudio.com.

Colleen’s girls clothing line CHaLK NYC is found at Barney’s, SAKS and Fred Segal and has been featured in the NY Times, ELLE,Vogue Bambini and T Magazine. www.chalknyc.com.

 

Zoe Adlersberg’s portraits for Pirouette will include moms from Paris, London and LA and will be published bi-monthly. More about Zoe here.