Filipino Fashion Designer Success Story - Furne One

Furne (Fernando) One is a Cebuano fashion designer who is now based in Dubai. He studied Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines. Furne One started getting the idea of becoming a fashion designer at the tender age of 10 years old since his mother and grandmother were both fashionistas. He took a lot of influence from them and he loved to sketch designs a lot. Unfortunately, when he went to college in Cebu there was no course for fashion design so he ended up taking fine arts.

In 1994, Furne joined the 1st MEGA magazine young designers competition in which the judges were big names in the international fashion industry such as Josie Natori, CEO and founder of New York based The Natori Company. Furne had won the the grand prize in the competition and was awarded a trip to Paris, where he had trained for a while. After training in Paris, Josie Natori invited him to work in New York for the Natori Company as an apprentice. When Furne had returned to Cebu he joined another competition sponsored by the government in which he once again won the grand prize, a trip to japan. Furne worked in Japan for a while and won the coveted women's wear award. After working in Japan for a while, Furne knew he wanted to be based abroad but he wasn't sure where. He thought of New York and Paris but then a friend suggested Dubai. He realized that Dubai might be a better fit because in New York and Paris the competition is quite tight and he loved it in Dubai. In Dubai, he worked for a company designing clothes for wealthy Arabic women. After a few years he decided to move on to a fashion house of his own. He partnered with Rashid Ali, who takes care of the management and business side of the company. He called his brand Amato which means beloved and added haute couture because his designs were really high fashion and 80% sewn by hand. According to him beadwork is a must or else the gown will be too ordinary, having learned that from his Arab clients.

Another thing dramatically transformed Furne One into a celebrity in Europe's Fashion world. German supermodel, Heidi Klum asked Furne to design gowns for the 18 models in her popular Tv show, Germany's next top model after being shown a catalogue of Furne's latest collection. The show was broadcast in Europe showing all of Furne's designs and the media loved it. Furne became a celebrity in Germany, being featured in German newspapers and fashion magazines. He had also designed a dress for popular actress and singer Jenny Elbers-Elbertzhagen which won her the "best dressed lady of the evening" at the Leipziger Opernball. Lately Furne had been invited to Miami fashion week in which he recieved the Designer Choice Award. To Furne it's all a dream come true and according to him the key to success is hard work and diligence as well as a little good luck.

-J.