Singapore luxury handbag brand, German inspiration

Ms Debbie Teo lives in a small German town where the natural surroundings inspire her designs

- Amanda Chai Style Correspondent

Where Ms Debbie Teo lives, it takes at least an hour's drive to leave behind the sprawling wilderness of her countryside home and reenter any form of civilisation.

Not quite the setting one would imagine for a handbag designer.

The 43-year-old Singaporean founder of fashion label Dbteo (dbteo.com) lives with her German husband and two daughters aged eight and six just outside Lennep, a small town located an hour away from German cities Cologne and Dusseldorf.

"Our place is not walkable to any cafes or supermarkets. During Covid, I was one of those who reared chickens," she jokes in an interview in October with The Straits Times.

Ms Teo was in Singapore to launch her first popup for Dbteo at Lechelle Petite, a boutique jewellery studio in Duxton. Running until December, the popup features sample pieces of her two bag styles in colours inspired by her long walks in nature.

The German countryside's greenery and seasonal foliage are regular sources of inspiration, she says.

"Outside our windows are deer and foxes in the forest. That was where we just had a lot of creative space, and peacefulness and serenity that made you feel like anything is possible."

It is a complete 180-degree change from Ms Teo's former life of fashion weeks and city glamour.

The political science graduate from the National University of Singapore spent 20 years in the rat race of fashion retail, starting out as a management trainee with travel retailer DFS and working across Asia and Europe.

She left to pursue an MBA at business school Insead, where she met her future husband. After graduating, she joined home grown luxury retailer Club 21, taking on the role of country manager for British fashion house Mulberry.