?IF I WON?T wear it, I won?t make it,? said 26-year-old Cebuano fashion accessory designer Noreen Tseng about her design principle. With no formal training in design?she has a degree in Computer Engineering?she credits common sense, reading books and plain old tinkering with jewelry components as her methods of learning.

After graduating from the University of San Carlos in 2005, she didn?t push through with her plan to take up a fashion course in Shanghai and stayed put to help in the family business of supplying chemicals to local furniture exporters, accessories manufacturers and ship builders. When her father decided to expand their business to include supplying fashion jewelry components, Noreen found herself playing around with the pieces on her desk.

?I connected the beads together because they were right in front of me,? she said. ?I wanted to make something I could wear on a night out with my friends since I couldn?t find accessories to match my outfits.?

Her friends adored her designs, and started asking her to make pieces for them. She kept designing one-of-a-kind accessories and giving them away, until she had her big a-ha moment when a stranger came up to her one day and actually offered to buy what she was wearing. That experience not only gave her the confidence to call herself a designer, but it also made her realize she could make a business out of her hobby.

She officially launched Tseng with her first collection in December 2007, and immediately made a name for herself when she won the 2008 Cebu Fashion Accessory Design Competition (CFADC) and the Zee magazine?s Editor?s Choice Award in the Professional Designers category with her standout necklace that showcases mirrors encased in 18-carat gold-plated metal. She said the stunning neckpiece was inspired by a coffee table made of metal and rattan woven together she once saw in a furniture show.

She is by no means limited to furniture for design ideas, however. Inspired by all things beautiful, including art, magazines and books, houses, tiles, geometric shapes and mosaic patterns, she said that she tends to go for more modern designs, which she then infuses with her own flair.

Her creativity and knack for making things her own are best seen in her collection for Cebu Fashion Accessories Manufacturers and Exporters (FAME) Foundation?s Go Green Project, in which she designed a line of accessories with her trademark metal, incorporated with the more sustainable and ecologically sound abaca fiber.

What makes her statement pieces even more covetable is that they are literally one?or two or three?of a kind. ?I never mass-produce anything. You can be guaranteed that only one or two other people have the same design, or for some pieces, none at all, actually,? she happily said. ?Girls who know what they want can actually come in my shop, sit down in front of me, and tell me exactly what they want done while I do it for them.?

Sophisticated and never understated, her designs come to life with brass and resin. Tseng pieces can be obnoxious, she acknowledges, so they are best worn with plain, simple clothes for a chic, effortless look.

?I want Tseng to be known as a first-rate brand. I want Tseng to be a brand. Not so much for the profit. I don?t design for the profit, but [rather] for the recognition,? she said. ?I want to go global someday!?

Indeed, she is well on her way.

Tseng is available at Jun Escario?s boutique at 2/F, Greenbelt 5. In Cebu, Tseng is at Fumi Bldg., Hernan Cortes St., Subangdaku, Mandaue City, and is open Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Call (32) 4228760; e-mail noreen_tseng@hotmail.com for orders.