Ann Ong: ‘True to what is Filipino’

In her first “serious” year as an accessories designer, housewife-turned-entrepreneur Ann Ong bagged the three prestigious Katha Awards for Best Product Design in Fashion given by the Center for International Trade Expositions & Missions (CITEM).

The Katha Awards is a mark of design excellence in the country, honoring manufacturers, designers and artisans who craft products that are distinctly fresh, original and innovative.

Not bad for someone who used to design only for a hobby, but who has metamorphosed into a world-class designer because of sheer talent and remarkable dedication to her craft.

“At first, I was just designing for women I admired,” begins Ann. “A woman of confidence, a very unique woman who has her own mind, someone who is not afraid to express what she thinks.”

But Ann put her stamp on her designs, even if she already had a woman in mind who could relate to her pieces.

 â€œIf you see my pieces, they are organic, they relate to nature,” she explains. For the Katha Awards last October, Ann’s Buko Twigs Clutch Bag won the Katha plum in fashion product design. “I always find inspiration whenever I gaze at trees.” In fact, our interview takes place in a lounge overlooking lush foliage.

Aside from using buko twigs and other parts of the tree for her unique designs, Ann also sources from the sea. She also turns mother-of-pearl, corals and other semi-precious stones into stunning neckpieces and cuffs.

“Organic, natural pieces will set you apart when you join exhibits in Europe. You will always see metal with the other jewelry designers, the Chinese are good in metal also,” Ann describes her style.

“But when you say it’s ‘an Ann Ong piece,’  you immediately know it’s really part of nature. You will see my aesthetic, it’s a rough finish. If you see this bracelet,” she points to a pearl-encrusted cuff, “it looks like the trunk of a tree.”

Indeed, the finish isn’t so polished, so much so that you wouldn’t mistake it for the one of the bars of a brass bed! In nature’s natural imperfections, Ann brings out perfect symmetry in her designs.

“Ann’s products are works of art and her designs are reflective of her very own personality: vibrant and colorful and true to what is Filipino,” believes CITEM executive director Rosvi Gaetos.

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Ann used to be a struggling designer supporting four children.

“I started telling myself that I could create something out of nothing and then sell it. Mababaw lang ako as an artist. I would just sketch, simple sketches, but everything comes from my feelings. I would buy used beads out of nowhere and turn them into necklaces and bracelets and they sold! I used to do some wireworks. But as time went by, I realized I had to set myself  apart. I found out that even the storeowners at the Greenhills tiangge did wireworks!”

Much to her horror, Ann discovered that the person who would execute her wireworks designs  also sold them to others. One day, she walked into a bazaar and found her own designs staring at her — but under a different label!

“That’s why I put up my own factory in Meycauayan, Bulacan. There are two kinds of metal smithing. The one that I do is handcrafted. Everything is handcrafted. The others are by machine casting. Casting is what the designers from other countries do,” points out Ann, who also designed clothes six years ago.

When she was just starting out, stylist Pam Quiñones pulled out her pieces for a show and when designer Rajo Laurel saw them, he immediately called Ann up.

“I was starstruck!” recalls Ann after Rajo introduced himself to her over the phone. “Hi Ann, I really want you to send pieces tomorrow. I want you at my store,” Ann quotes Rajo as telling her.

“Rajo always likes to inspire you,” she says. She then consigned her pieces in Rajo Laurel’s boutique, and they would be snapped up by fashionable socialites.

When word about Ann’s unique accessories spread like twigs set on fire, Ann turned into a pro.

When she had her first major exhibit at CITEM’s Manila FAME, she displayed bags named after Rajo’s mother Virginia to show her appreciation for the big break Rajo had given her when she was just starting out.

“I owe him,” she repeats. “I cannot forget that. I owe him for who I am right now.”

Ann currently employs 50 artisans in her factory in Meycauayan.

 â€œI did exhibits in Berlin, in Frankfurt, in Singapore and recently in Hong Kong. I always think about what will set Filipinos apart in these exhibits, what will make the buyers really say, ‘Wow!’”

When she was in Germany, the organizers of the prestigious Ambiente trade fair, which has 4,700 exhibitors, immediately invited her to be one of its participants.

Ann now also exports to Colombia, Germany, Singapore, Russia and Spain. She used to sell also to the Neiman Marcus chain in the US, until they wanted exclusivity for her designs. All of her exports are handmade.

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Ann Ong has gone a long way from selling used beads in a bazaar to exhibiting one-of-a-kind pieces in Europe’s top trade fairs.

“Sometimes, to be a good designer, you don’t have to go to formal training school. I just made sure I designed for a purpose and that I was, and continue to be, unique. What I am right now, everything comes from God,” she believes.

After all, only God can make a tree!

(Ann Ong’s accessories are available at Rockwell Archeology (second floor), House of Laurel and Religioso in Greenbelt 5. Her flagship store at Marco Polo Ortigas will open

in February 2014.)