Last Thursday, we had a Filipino designer sale event featuring the amazing Rafe Totengco. Rafe always surprises us with his fathomless creativity. Customers were in love with his sophisticated yet edgy shell minaudieres.

Here’s a brief interview we carried out during the event:

AsiaStore: When and how did you realize that you have a talent in designing?
Rafe: I’ve been drawing since I was a very young boy. I sketched before I could even speak, so I think it was sort of inevitable for me to end up doing something creative, and designing accessories was just another outlet for my creativity.

AsiaStore: Tell me about how your Filipino-American background influenced and inspired your current collection.
Rafe: Even though your background and upbringing definitely shape you, it doesn’t necessarily specifically influence one collection or another. It really reflects my own personal history and my own personal taste. So it’s not necessarily like being Filipino influences this collection, but it’s much more the fact that the collection is proudly made in the Philippines, utilizing raw materials from the Philippines.

AsiaStore: What is your design philosophy?
Rafe: I think my design philosophy is really to create things that are going to be classics, things that you are going to want to own and pass on as keepsakes. I want to design pieces that are iconic so that when you wear them, you feel really happy that they are specially hand-crafted, and not owned by a lot of people. My pieces are painstakingly time-consuming to make, so I don’t produce a lot of them. As a result, they are sort of limited-editions.

AsiaStore: What does it mean to you to have your designs sold at AsiaStore at the Asia Society?
Rafe: It’s a great compliment and I am very proud that I am included in a wonderfully curated location, and to be included in a really fantastic roster of Asian or Asian American designers.

Thank you all for supporting and attending the event! Stay tuned for more great designer events this Fall season! SHOP Rafe’s collection at: http://asiastore.org/designer-page/rafe/