MANILA, Philippines?The self-described ?anti-logo? New York accessories designer Rafe Totengco has been finally convinced to set up shop in fickle and hard-to-please Manila.

?There will always be some [Filipino] women who would want to be identified with the brand they wear,? Totengco said in an exclusive interview a day before the official opening of his Greenbelt 5 store yesterday.

?But there are more and more women who are much more confident [to wear under-the-radar labels] and who would say, ?I?m wearing the bag, it?s not the bag wearing me.??

First free-standing shop

Rafe at Greenbelt 5, which had its soft opening three months ago, is Totengco?s first freestanding store outside New York, a franchise owned by Ricco and Tina Ocampo, who have been selling Rafe bags in their boutique MIX for several years.

It?s a bold move for a designer who has been firm at keeping his enterprise ?small and special? in spite of tempting offers from conglomerates to buy his business. In Europe, Middle East, Asia and Russia, for instance, his bags and shoes are sold in upscale boutiques and department stores, like Harvey Nichols and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong.

?All the bigger brands are consolidated and put under a bigger umbrella,? he said. ?We?re small and I think that?s what makes us special and we celebrate that. That?s what I bring to the table, something different. I think that?s what people like about us. I?m sort of the anti-logo.?

?We?ve been courted,? said Tesa Totengco, the designer?s sister who?s director of sales, ?but Rafe?s very hands-on. When you sell the business, you lose control.? Their mother is the company?s bookkeeper and office manager.

?I know of others who had sold but want to buy back their brands,? the designer explained. ?You want to go big, but how big can you get? I want to remain true to myself. I love the process, the trip to the factory, those are the things I don?t want to let go of.?

But if the right partner comes along, ?Sure!? he said.

Caution

While he has moved the manufacture of his merchandise to China, Totengco remains cautious about expanding in the Chinese market. He?s in talks to sell in Shanghai, though he also acknowledged that China is a ?new economy? and a market that?s largely still after the ?obvious brands.?

Rafe?s expansion is aimed at the Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore markets, where he will be selling soon.

Of his confidence in the Philippine market, the Ilonggo-born designer said: ?I come from a family of women, and I know what their whims and flights of fancies are. The world is getting smaller, we read the same magazines, we all go to Style.com as soon as the shows are over. So, there?s always that thirst for the next thing. It?s women in general, Filipinas among them.?

For his current collection, Totengco sticks to familiar shapes ?but with a vintage edge??large clutches that combine wood and skin, for instance; expandable hobo bags with multiple pockets; beaded minaudieres akin to the style he designed for actress Eva Longoria-Parker?s bridesmaids last year.

A fan of prints, he resorts to laser cutting to create an illusion of prints without actually using printed materials. He also uses snakeskin, stamped ?ostrich? leathers, industrial sisal and Spanish canvas in other styles.

Rafe?s key pieces are of patent or metallic finishes. Metallics, he said, will continue to rule in the Fall 2008 collections, but in more vintage-y colors like gunmetal and topaz.

Rafe was the first designer brand to create a pocket collection for the bargain chain Target, in 2006?a move viewed as risky by some observers, but which, in fact, only brought in good results, according to Totengco.

?It raised brand recognition. Our website alone had 20 times more hits. People were selling the bags on eBay! Then everybody was asking how to get into Target!?

Totengco launched his namesake brand in New York in the mid-?90s. In 1999 he was a finalist in the Accessories Designer of the Year category of the CFDA Awards. He received the TOYM award from the Philippine Jaycees in 2002.