
Mother Stories
The Colorful Family Life Of Designer Araks Yeramyan
Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano
Photography by Photographed by Maria Del Rio
Apr 7, 2016
With a line as singular, unexpected, and instantly recognizable as swim and lingerie label Araks, we knew the home life of the designer behind the brand would be unique, as well. We were right. Here, NYC-based Araks Yeramyan and her two sons, Aren and Khoren, invite us into their downtown abode, filled with surprising pops of color, and show us how one very creative brood lives. Fans of the idea of “Simplicity Parenting,” this one’s for you!
- "It belonged to my family, but it needed a lot of work. I moved in over 10 years ago, but only had the opportunity to renovate it three years ago."
- "Understated, classic, warm, modern. I like to incorporate elements from the natural world, lots of wood, marble, and brass. A little bit earthy, but polished."
- "My aesthetic is always evolving a little. I appreciate different things at different times in my life. I’ve always thought it works to decorate slowly and buy beautiful pieces over time."
- "I have a playroom for them, which they use as their room for building and creating. However, they really love playing in the living room and hallway. The space is what they need."
- "I love my kid’s art. I have been working on a project replicating my favorite pieces that they have done in cross stitch. I will have a wall devoted to their pieces and my interpretation. Also, I love my quilt on the wall. It was a collaboration with my friend Emily Kroll, who is a designer, who was exploring textiles. We used the fabrics from my collection when I was designing ready-to-wear and had it made by an Amish lady in Lancaster, PA."
- "Aren, who is 8, loves soccer. He's had a ball attached to his foot since he was born."
- "Khoren, who is 7, loves to make things. He loves knitting, any kind of craftwork, and drawing. They are close in age—18 months apart. I loved having them so close, they are each other’s best friends."
- "I am Armenian, my name is Armenian. I wanted them to have Armenian names as well."
- "Sometime my mom duties have taken over my beauty duties."
- "Most excited: I get to see the world through whatever age they are at. Most nervous: You never know how they are going to interpret what comes out of your mouth and how it gets translated in the schoolyard."
- "Take it easy. Let them be your guide. You are there to have them be the greatest of whatever they want to be. Don’t get in their way."
- "These are all the colors of thread we use to produce my swim and lingerie collections. I store them at my house and they double as color therapy. As soon as I walk in the door, I am instantly relaxed."
- "They both love to knit. They learned at school. Khoren takes more to it and has his home knitting projects. It was my intention that they play the violin. I want to give them something for themselves that they could have forever, a place to escape or go to when they need. I am not about making the next Yo-Yo Ma. It’s really just for them. I try to make it a fun and enjoyable experience. They each only practice 10-20 minutes a day, whatever they are feeling. For their last song they can go crazy and do whatever they want. Khoren likes to dance around and play the violin like a rockstar while Aren works on composing songs."
- "We are super similar. They raised me in a very simple way, I never had a lot of toys or many things. I am the same in that way, except my mom thinks I am extreme. I don’t get it. My parents were exactly the same!"
- "I don’t read them."
- "Casual, quirky, quiet. My style has stayed the same after becoming a mother. I just spend less time in front of the mirror."
- "Underneath I always have on Josephine hipsters and my Antonia or Lara bra in all colors and basics. I love to wear stripe jersey tops or anything with dots. And my staple shoes are my Stan Smiths, I can wear them with anything (almost). My closet is mostly Araks, however, I love to support and wear my friends that make sense to my aesthetic: Isa Arfen, Etré Cecile, and Sonia Boyajian (jewelry)."
- "I’m not a shopper, I only buy what I need. When I do, I shop in person because I need to touch everything, and mostly I buy from my designer friends. For shoes, I shop at Barneys and my go-to designers there are Marni and Céline."
- "They pick out what they wear. Aren is more into the color-blocking. Khoren has been dressing himself since about two. I don’t even know how to explain how he dresses, I can’t figure out his formula on how he makes his choices. As far as brands, I love Bobo Choses and Monoprix in Paris when they were younger. Now it’s pretty basic, I just order online from J.Crew and Zara. I buy stripes and bright colors for them, and they do the rest."
- “As much sleep as I can get. Otherwise, almost nothing. Weleda face wash and water. One to two times a week I’ll use Laura Mercier face polish. I only use face moisturizer, by Weleda, when I am feeling dry. As for makeup, I wear a bit of concealer, which is my most important product. I have four kinds: Laura Mercier, M.A.C., Nars, and Shu Umera. I use mascara—afterall, I have two kids! I like Laura Mercier for more drama, and one that looks super natural that I buy in the Paris pharmacy. On my lips and cheek I don’t usually wear anything, but occasionally I’ll do a tint via Clinique Chubby Sticks in all shades of pink. On even more rare occasions I might wear a super bold saturated pink, Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Magenta Matte."
- "I have been drinking a green smoothie almost every morning for the past 10-plus years. My day is off kilter if I skip out. For exercise I do gyrotonics and run."
- “It’s simple. They only sleep in there. I try to keep the bedrooms with as few things as possible. I like it to be the most calm, settling room in the house. A place to rest.”
- "Khoren is an early collector. He is a lover of beautiful things. For his birthday I get him things he has had his eye on or talks about, these gifts he keeps on display in his room. The pink-dotted painting on the wall and a beautiful crystal on the windowsill were the last two. He once asked for an authentic Indian chief feather headdress, but to display it seemed challenging. Eventually he forgot about it, but I haven’t."
- "They love to share their room. Many times they push their beds together to sleep closer together. On some occasions I have found them sleeping in the same bed."
- "Yes. I was raised with simple wooden blocks, paper, and three colors to draw with—red, yellow, and blue. It seemed natural for me to follow suit. Although I am not as strict with the colors. I wish I were. I do follow many of the philosophies of Waldorf and send my kids to Rudolf Steiner."
- "They’ve had dolls since they were very young, I gave both of them one of my Cabbage Patch Dolls, which they love and take care of. The rest they made at school. I want them to have something to cherish and take care of. I am raising them to be amazing fathers."
- "Lingerie and swim for women. Clean, effortless, with unexpected color."
- “I grew up in Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. As a young child, art, design, and culture was very important to my father. He always took us to various museums (the modern art section was always my favorite), bought us books on different kinds of artists ( I loved the colorful ones, Picasso and Warhol), and filled our playroom with all sorts of supplies to create. The most important thing for him was that we really understood color. He only bought us red, yellow, and blue in colored pencils, paints, or any other materials. He taught us the principles of color and we went from there. I later went to study Fashion Design at Parsons and interned throughout school at Marc Jacobs, and freelanced at J.Crew for a year after I finished college, and while I was starting my own line. They were extremely helpful and supportive."
- "I don’t stress out as much when things go crazy. It’s easier to put things into perspective now. How that looks day-to-day and how I spend my time varies, but it is always my priority that they are taken care of. It all flows together."
- "Yes, I have very close friends. We all have children and can lean on one another. My family is very close in Pennsylvania, so they are always available, as well."
- "Everything. I love the pace and how what I have to work on changes every day depending on the time of year. No two days are ever the same. And I love that I get to spend everyday surrounded by color."
- "I would like to work on bigger artist collaborations, and take on other creative projects outside of my field."
- "My kids are really easy. I started them on green foods when they were babies and they could not object, but they do love pasta. My easy favorite go-to is Spaghetti Limone. I always try to switch things up, so we are always trying new things. I have two recipe apps on my phone, The New York Times and Epicurious. My favorite thing about these two apps is once you find something you love, you can save it in your recipe box to find easily and make again. My kids love to cook, too. They are not as into the recipes as I am, they love to make up their own creations."
- "There is no ideal day. Weekends are when we get to do things together. I work on having different experiences that are still very natural every weekend, from going to the museum and drawing to outdoor activities and socializing with friends. I really work on mixing it up. Their only constant is juggling them around on Saturdays to their different sport games—Aren plays soccer and Khoren plays baseball. Sunday evenings we cook together."
- Airborne!
- Times two!
- "There are an endless amount of things that you can take kids to that are also stimulating for me, as well."
- "NO!"
- "The weekday is always the same. I try and come home when they do. It varies on the day and what activity they have after school. Sometimes they have none and those are my favorite days. Our evenings are more relaxed, but everyday we work on violin and reading. We each read to each other from our books that we choose."
- "They love the restaurant Bar Pitti. And we sometimes walk to Odeon for fresh mint chocolate-chip ice cream. Their favorite museums are the MoMa and the Whitney. They also love the knights and Egyptian exhibits at the Met, and playing soccer in the park."
- To continue following along with Araks and her children, check her out on Instagram.
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