Cyndi Chan always thought of herself as an artist. She started out drawing scenery, old and modern buildings and the interiors. She always knew she wanted to do something creative, but didn't know it would be fashion. Her father took her to see her first fashion show at the age of 11 and she was impressed with how happy and proud her dad was at the fashion show. Her mother sews, so it appears she was almost destined for a career in fashion.

Cyndi has a unique designing process. She gets her inspiration from a few unconventional sources - the fashion police pages of fashion magazines, people on the street, fabrics in fashion shows, and furniture stores. She says she's constantly thinking of ways to redesign the outfits of those around her to make their clothes more flattering to their body types and personalities. Cyndi Chan often goes to fabric stores to become inspired by the patterns and fabrics. She walks into the store without preconceived ideas about what she's looking for and walks out with lots of ideas and several bolts of fabric. When Cyndi Chan goes furniture shopping she becomes inspired by the furniture shapes and starts imagining who would own such furniture and what clothes they would where and how those clothes would compliment the furniture.

Cyndi Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong. Growing up in the influence of British colony formed the foundation of her Bold and Chic style. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in fashion design from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (same school as fashion designer Vivienne Tam, no wonder she is talented), Cyndi moved to New York. She always wanted to work for Donna Karen and her dreams came true. She interned with DKNY, and has worked for other major labels in New York for the past six years, and her last job was designing luxury leather outerwear before deciding to venture out on her own. After some research, Cyndi Chan decided that Chicago would be the perfect place to start her own line. She attributes her decision to the affordable rents and Chicago's unique boutique neighborhoods. It is the perfect environment to start a fashion business outside of the east village in New York City.

Cyndi Chan's company is InTime, LLC which serves as the umbrella for her various lines. Ori-en is her signature line, which she derived from the word "orient". And her design philosophy is clean and rich. "It's all about the fabric! ", she is crazy when she explains the importance of the fabric application in her collection. Ori-en produces high quality custom made sweaters with unique fits; every sweater will fit sensational on her fashion forward clients. Her youthful, tailored jackets and pants are so flattering to the body. As mentioned before, she is very sensitive to the fabric selection on each style. She studies the fabric performance (the form & drape) before she starts cut and sew the piece. Cyndi's other passion is designing jeans. That is where Ori-Jeans (her second line) comes in, which are smart casual denim and very affordable. They are special engineer cut denim items, not the simple wash jeans like everyone else has. Cyndi Chan's Spring 2005 collection is fun, young with vivid colors and have a lot of unique details and beautiful tailoring. The collection consists of sweaters for men and women (prices start at $140 for women's sweaters and $180 for men's sweaters), women's jeans (starting at $100), dresses, and women's jackets. Cyndi Chan will be expanding her collection next season to include men's jeans and a fun & luxurious accessories line. Most of the collection is produced in the United States. Of course Ori-en the signature Collection includes hand knitted custom made sweater. And cut & sew dresses, High quality suit jacket and pants tailored in Chicago.

Ori'en can be found in the following selected boutiques.

FORAVI, 542 Broadway, New York City, NY (212) 966-1970
Softcore, 1420 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL (773) 276-7616
His Stuff, 5314N Clark Street, Chicago, IL (773) 989-9111
Le Fetiche, 139E, Traverse City, Michigan. MI (231) 941-0203
NYC Showroom, 230W, 38th street, 4th Floor, NY
In Time LLC, 225W, Huron St, Suite 212, IL 60610 (312) 951-9180

*Cyndi Chan is the WINNER of the 2005 CFF Logo contest. Please view Cyndi's design at the top of our web site!