MANILA, Philippines – When he was a boy, Audie Sison had a teddy bear that was kept by his mother only for display. He yearned to hug and play with the soft toy, but that desire was never fulfilled.

Years later, that suppressed childhood longing transformed into a creative endeavor, which has made Sison a star in the world of teddy-bear artists.

Coming from a clan of doctors, Audie Roman Francisco Sison studied BS Zoology at Far Eastern University. But a career in medicine was far from his calling. He ended up working in marketing and promotions at the Philippine Conventions & Visitors Corporation.

Sison was promoted to senior convention officer and also performed as a dancer in the firm’s folk-dance group. In 1986, he left for Madrid to study Spanish Philology, which covers language, literature and culture. He also started shuttling to the Netherlands, the homeland of his longtime partner.

In 1991, Sison started accumulating dolls and teddy bears when it became a trend. After three years of collecting, it dawned on him that he could also produce teddy bears.

“Why pay top dollar when you could get one that looks like an antique? But I could not sew a button on my shirt, let alone a bear,” he says. “Picking up a needle and some mohair, I looked at my collection and said, I can do it!”

He started with commercial patterns purchased at teddy-bear shows and hobby shops. After five trials, he was dissatisfied with the teddy bear’s faces. With his background in visual arts from Madrid’s art school, he created his own designs, inspired by the teddy bears of the 1900s.

Classic version

Teddy bears were created by a German seamstress, Margaret Steiff. The classic teddy bear is characterized by glassy eyes, a stitched snout, a hump back, long arms with spoon-shaped paws, and small ankles with long feet.

The Steiff toys were made of mohair, felt, alpaca or woven plush, stitched by hand and filled with polyester and wood shavings.

Sison says his teddy bears are as traditional as the Steiff toys. “All my bears have that nostalgic, elegant and sweet look.”

For materials, he favors German mohair for the body, wood wool and poly fill for the stuffing, wool felt for the paw pads, and glass and antique shoe buttons for the eyes. The secret of his vintage look is his “needle sculpting,” which he compares to the fastidious contouring of the face.

He has earned a reputation for elegant bears. The Lady of Taste, which sports a hat with a tulle veil evocative of European ladies, has been on the cover of international teddy-bear magazines.

His favorite work is the sailor-boy bear with deep-set eyes; it has also been the most photographed. He dyed plain mohair several times, airbrushed the muzzle and embroidered it to achieve the bear’s timeworn look.

Sison made a breakthrough on the international scene when he joined the Japan Teddy Bear Association and Convention. He came with 22 hand-stitched bears and left Japan with only two bears.

His reputation quickly spread among teddy bear collectors. He also did tours in San Diego, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Berlin and Austria.

Sometimes he would get faxes from strangers who would reserve a bear. “By the time I get into my hotel room, the phone would be ringing. I’d ask the caller, ‘How did you know?’ ‘I’ve been checking the hotels.’”

That’s how in-demand he is. For 10 years, Sison signed autographs at My Friends & Me, touted as the best teddy-bear shop in the States, in Leesburg, Virginia. The shop is famous for collectibles produced by the best teddy-bear artists in the world.

Sison is a two-time winner of the Teddy Bear Artist of the Year, the Oscars of the industry, given by the Teddy Bear and Friends magazine.

He is also a recipient of a Golden Teddy award. For a bear that evoked a 1900s look, Sison became the only recipient of the Winners’ Circle Award, adjudged by past winners.

Master bear-maker

His works have landed on covers of major teddy-bear publications. He was even dubbed by magazines as “master bear-maker” and the “Armani of teddy-bear artists” for his simple but exquisite workmanship. The restrained use of accessories enhances, not overpowers, the bears.

Sison is mum about the price of his teddy bears, but hints that they fetch at least $500. A miniature, standing at four inches, starts at $90. He says he’s the only artist in teddy-bear fairs who is allowed not to put a price tag on his wares.

“In fairs, people say, ‘I love your bear so much but I have to mortgage my house.’ Or, ‘I have to save my salary for four months,’” he says. “Everybody has a teddy bear made out of synthetic. What we do as artists is not a toy but an art.”

Sison is able to capitalize on his skills in marketing and promotions. Last year, he was the marketing director for the Philippine Pavilion at the Zaragoza Expo in Spain. Japanese and Korean organizers have hired him to be the international representative and coordinator for their teddy-bear shows.

He invites teddy-bear artists to attend. In exchange, he is given a commission, perks and a rent-free booth in the fairs.

“Collecting and making teddy bears is passion for me. I never thought of it as a business. If I sell, fine; if not, I don’t care. I want to make something I can be proud of,” he says.

Audie Sison’s teddy bears are available at AC+632, Greenbelt 5. Call 758-2564.