50 years old, Fashion designer

Vivienne Tam credits Hong Kong with having an enormous influence on her work. “It’s continuously my inspiration. I grew up in Hong Kong and that’s why my clothes are East meets West”.

Born in Guangzhou but raised in Hong Kong, multi-award-winning Tam had an immediate understanding of Chinese culture and incorporated that knowledge into her college designs. “Every time someone asks me if I graduated from America, I say, ‘No, I graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic,’ and I’m proud of that.”

Tam moved to the Big Apple in 1992, where she fought to get her collection noticed. “At the very beginning, when I brought my collection over [to New York], I made calls to stores and constantly they would say ‘Oh you’re a designer from Hong Kong? But there are no designers from Hong Kong, there are only manufacturers’,” says Tam. “I had to convince them and convince them. I wanted to change [their] perception of Hong Kong”.

These days Chinese design and art is all the rage around the world, and Tam is one of the people to thank for that transition. Fresh from a collaboration with Hewlett-Packard, Tam has demonstrated that her designs are capable of lighting up the tech industry as well as the fashion world. Her Peony design – a traditional Chinese floral symbol – graces the top of the red HP special-edition notebook (right), which resembles one of the small rectangular clutches seen in her spring 2009 collection. This type of originality has helped her stay ahead of the fashion pack for the past two decades, and makes her a role model for the younger generation of Hong Kong designers.

Still closely involved in the development of local designers, Tam is working with the Hong Kong Design Center in an effort to nurture local talent. “We are continuously promoting design, and creating a very strong platform for Hong Kong’s creative industry.”

Tam continues to encourage individuals to be true to themselves. “I really believe in my own culture. [Hong Kong] is where I grew up, and this is who I am,” she says. “I think it’s important to really believe in yourself, have passion for what you are doing, and stop thinking about having to make money from it.” Tina Lee

Read the full interview here.