Names: Shari Kellman Domb and Amy Kellman
Business: Chaleur NYC (ChaleurNYC.com)
Location: New York City

You’ve said that your business was born out of a passion for shopping. What prompted you to take that next step and actually begin creating your own designs?
Shari: I guess it all started when I was 6 days old, when my mom took me on my first trip to the mall. As a little girl, I dreamt about becoming a big-time fashion designer, and I spent many summers during high school and college working in fashion houses, as well as a semester abroad with the fashionable Brits. But it wasn’t until a holiday family vacation up in the Catskills that my dream began to unfold. Although Mom has always loved the ski slopes, her ears were always cold, so she needed some fashionable headgear. We began designing upon our return to civilization, and the vision for Chaleur NYC was created.

And not long after that, your designs attracted the attention of Henri Bendel’s buyers?
Shari: Yes, earlier this year, we took our designs to Henri Bendel’s Open See, waited on line with hundreds of other fledgling designers, and our pieces were met enthusiastically by the buyers.

Your earmuffs are hand-knitted from 100 percent cashmere, lined with shearling, and embellished with Swarovski crystals and pearls. Why have you chosen to create luxury items, rather than, say, mass-producing your designs from cheaper materials?
Shari: We design only pieces that we would want to wear ourselves. We also felt that there was a void in the luxury knitwear market, and our hand-knitted pieces offer an extra touch of opulence that very few items today can provide.

What are your backgrounds in fashion design, sewing, and knitting?
Amy: We have had no formal training in knitting and sewing, but I’ve been knitting since I was a teenager, creating baby clothes, blankets, scarves, and hats, and Shari began knitting this past winter as the vision for Chaleur NYC began to emerge. Beyond that, we like to think that we received our training in New York City’s stores. We both have a great eye for style, and as a fine-arts student in college, my daughter’s eye for color was developed.

What’s it like working as a mother-daughter duo?
Shari: It’s great. It’s really helped us in understanding what appeals to different age groups. Although our pieces are exclusive, every one of our creations has a certain universal appeal.

Are you also available for custom orders?
Amy: Yes. We can custom make any earmuff with any fur-and-crystal combination, and we’re always open to new ideas. This is how the men’s earmuff was developed. A client was interested in the cashmere knit, so we the got rid of the Swarovski crystals and added leather piping around the fur.

What sorts of pieces are you designing now?
Shari: We’re currently working on our spring line, because knitwear needn’t only be for winter, and we’re also launching a jewelry line this month.

What inspired the name “Chaleur”?
Shari: The name was actually created by my Swiss husband. He felt that “chaleur,” meaning “warmth” in French, would be perfect for our creations, and the name just stuck.