[Sing Pao]

Fiona Yuen has a great interest in jewellery design and not only has she designed items for herself to wear, she has also given some to friends who have suggested to her that she should produce some more to sell in some friend's shops. Now Fiona has her own specialist counter to sell the fruits of her labours with her own label "Kunst W", which is German for 'Art'. Her enterprise has not only gained recognition from other people, it is also the foundations for financial gain.

As Fiona's Chinese name, Choi Wan means 'Colourcloud', she has decided to take this as her designer name and printed on her product packaging are the words "Handmade by Colourcloud". As her first batch of designs went down very well, Fiona has continued to produce her line. Most designers will bring out two lines a year, but as Fiona has been busy filming series and her gourmet programme, she will only be producing one set of designs a year and this year is her second set so far.

Fiona feels that accessories can make a simple outfit unique and she likes wearing jewellery herself, wearing simple clothes but partnering them with some outrageous accessories. Fiona has not studied design formally, but has learned her craft from reading magazines and then using her own inspiration and feelings to create her designs that are all personally handmade by her. She says that for any idea, she will first draw the design, but if she doesn't have any ideas, she will take the materials and let her imagination run.

Does she intend to open her own shop to sell her designs? Fiona says she would like to as this is her wish, but she does not have the time to do this at the moment because she will soon be filming TVB's "Sum Ling Gai Tong" (Chicken Soup of the Soul) as well as hosting her food show and she cannot fit it in, but she does not rule out the chance that one day, she will have her own store. For now, she is mainly making earrings, necklaces and bracelets and she hopes to start making brooches soon. The designs from the sixties are fashionable this year, so she has designed a set of items to reflect this era. Another set is suitable for OL's (Office Ladies) and is simple and not overpowering, using glass as a theme and giving a relaxed yet elegant look.

Will she be doing her own promotion for her products? Fiona says that sometimes she will wear her own items in her shows, so if you get a chance then look out for her accessories and you may find that they are her own designs. So far, Fiona's designs number one or two hundred since her very first design in April of last year. Her sales and reputation have been good and even now, people will ask her where they can buy her products. Actually there are not many places where you can buy them as they are only on sale in two shops at the moment, although at one stage, there were five outlets. Despite selling them at her friends' stores, Fiona still has to pay them commission and she feels this is reasonable because they still have to pay rent. Whenever she sees people wearing her designs, Fiona will be very happy and have a great sense of achievement.

Fiona's workshop is in her home and she has a lot of tools and material there that she has bought mainly from Japan. She pays great attention to the quality of her materials and whenever she goes abroad, she will bring back more suitable items, for example on her recent trip to Germany to visit her family when she brought back a lot of things.

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