Celine bags and seaweed crackers – that’s a strong Chalkboard vibe right there. Chatting with Digital Brand Architects creative head Karen Robinovitz, it didn’t take long for us to realize that she was our kind of girl. We meet thriving creatives and wellness buffs at the top of their game all the time – most of whom blow us away with either their great taste and killer carry alongs or their unusual snacks and glowing skin, but when we talked with Karen, we knew we’d met one of our own: someone as obsessed with their raw crackers as they were the handbag they crunched them in to.
Design and raw-food fixations aside, Karen – with her successful career in fashion, pop culture and art (all the same thing?) – is also someone who can appreciate the balance required to live “well,” as we often say. We loved getting a glimpse into this stylish media maven’s New York office for a day. A day filled with seaweed snacks and good art books, as all solid work days should be…
Name:
Karen Robinovitz.
Business:
Co-Founder/Chief Creative Officer, Digital Brand Architects.
My go-to work bag:
Celine box bag.
Favorite object on my desk:
A note from my husband that I had laminated. I keep it tucked behind a photo of us that always makes me smile.
Favorite morning of the week:
Saturday. I know that after I deal with errands, I can spend the whole day exploring art galleries for inspiration.
At 10:00 am I am usually:
Picking up a raw chocolate mousse: cacao, avocado, coconut. (Need something sweet everyday.)
Always a glass of this on my desk:
Alkaline water.
Snacks always on hand:
Sea-salt seaweed, raw almonds, peanut butter LARABAR 
.
My favorite current project is:
Working on the expansion of DBA in China.
Favorite stationery:
Personalized Benetton Gaveur from Paris (I just ordered one with a small icon of a gold Erwin Wurm sausage sculpture I’m obsessed with, which is odd considering I don’t eat meat of any kind, but if you saw the sculpture in real life, you would understand).
Organizational item I can’t live without:
My brain.
Favorite business gift to send:
I always switch it up depending on who I’m sending something to because it has to feel special and personal. I tend to rely on Taschen
books, art objects from Paul Kasmin or Works on Whatever, Baby Cakes desserts, ’60s Murano glass from AREA iD, a curated museum experience, the gift of my favorite masseuse, and anything Fornasetti.
Favorite lunch restaurant:
Pure Food & Wine (the garden out back is the best when weather permits).
Favorite lunch buddy:
My husband.
Favorite lunch I make myself:
Toasted flax wrap with almond butter, cinnamon, and fresh organic blueberries – my version of PB&J.
My necessary extravagance is:
Of a sartorial nature.
Books always in my office:
Vintage art, fashion, and design books (Sol Le Witt, Wesselmann, Alexander Liberman, Billy Baldwin, a ’60s Architectural Digest compilation of homes architects live in, Visionaire’s Diana Vreeland Memos, Steven Sprouse); contemporary art catalogues (José Parla, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Rachel Howard, Marilyn Minter, Wangechi Mutu, Scott Campbell, Julia Dault, Alex Prager, Tracey Emin); my friend Maria Brito’s art/design book Out There
; and indie magazines like Love, CR, Another, V, Interview, Sleek, System and iD.
My top distraction is:
Instagram.
Strangest thing in my office:
It was a little marble sculpture of Ai Wei Wei, giving the finger, but after a tumble, the finger fell off so now it’s at the doctor.
