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Tina Ansaldo: In the bag | Philstar.com
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Allure

Tina Ansaldo: In the bag

- Jerni May H. Camposano -
This woman is bagging international success, literally. Even the Queen of Spain can’t resist her beautifully-accentuated bags. As a matter of fact, Queen Sophia now owns eight Ansaldo bags in her collection.

At 34, Tina Ansaldo is content with a full-time job — that of being a mother — and designing world-class bags in between. "If I were a bag, I would be different kinds of Ansaldo bags," beams Tina, who shared that her mom was her biggest influence in her passion of putting that perfect accessory into her evening outfits. "I could be an elegant silver and black one, to a dramatic feathered one, then from a flirty lace number to something sexy in animal print," she says. For Tina, one thing that’s sure is she would be a bag that carries one’s essentials. "And why not do so in a pretty package?" she quips.

Tina has had a very active imagination since way back. Asked on what she dreamt of becoming when she was a little kid, she gushes in excitement, "Many things! I would role-play and be anything from a princess, a super hero, a doctor, a cashier playing with a large calculator." It was her mom’s hobby of making bags, however, which sparked Tina’s interest in creating things.

Her romance with bags started when she realized she wanted something to go with her outfits. "I wanted to accessorize certain outfits and was not satisfied with what was available. So I started making my own jewelry. Then I made bags to match them," narrates Tina, who particularly likes bag designing because it gives her a bigger canvas to work with.

"I usually go by my mood when designing a bag. I rarely ever go by trends. Since I design mostly evening bags, I think of how a particular bag might complement a certain gown or how it might celebrate the mood of an event," she continues. Tina realizes that a lot more attention goes into the style of the person who will be carrying her bags. So when she custom-makes the bag, she incorporates the buyer’s personality into the process.

"I’m a survivor and I have pretty good coping skills. When you have a good understanding of yourself and what you can accomplish, you can weather pretty big storms," says Tina, mother of "two of the greatest souls that I know" — Mireya, 11 and Enrique, nine. "I am grateful for everything in my life. For everything I have been blessed with and even for the things that were not meant for me."

With all that she’s had and all that she’s accomplished as a mother and as an international bag designer, Tina retreats to her private space where, probably, she can learn to play the guitar.

ANSALDO

BAG

BAGS

EVEN THE QUEEN OF SPAIN

FOR TINA

IF I

TINA

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