HONG KONG , China ( CNN ) -- From the runway to the store rack , Vivienne Tam is one designer who uses creativity and business acumen in equal measure . Leading fashion designer Vivienne Tam spoke to CNN 's Andrew Stevens in The Boardroom . Since her start in the fashion business in the early '80s and establishing her own brand in the '90s , she has risen to fame with her east-meets-west styles . Today it 's her skills in business which have expanded the label to some 30 stores worldwide , from New York to Beijing . CNN 's Andrew Stevens caught up with the designer in Hong Kong to talk about what it 's like to lead both the business and creative direction of a global fashion line . Tam : The business side is like designing , it 's like I like the touch of the fabric , I like to know the details about it . And you feel about it , you know about the deal , because who 's the person who knows what the best deal for you is ? Yourself . It 's like designing clothes , I love to know how to solve every single thing , you know . Like what kind of budget . Stevens : It 's just natural curiosity ? Tam : Natural curiosity , I love it . I love every aspect of it . Stevens : Who have you learned your business skills from or have you made it up as you went along ? Tam : I self-taught myself in business ; I know nothing about the business , I learned everything -- about the pricing , the shipping , the contracts , everything -- by doing it . When you 're doing it yourself , you know everything . If you do n't do it , you just listen to somebody telling you how to do it , you 're not experiencing it . Once you 're experiencing it , you can grow so much from it . Once you experience it , you can go further , much further . It 's a feeling of it . Stevens : When you won the Hong Kong businesswoman of the year award , you said that your mother was one of your greatest inspirations . How did she inspire you ? Tam : She inspired me so much you know , like you say , the determination , persistence . When she really wanted to make something , she would really go to the end , she 'd really want to make it happen and I see her , she 's really the force behind me . We were quite poor , we had no money , my parents were working really hard . When I grew up , I saw them working so hard , and then deep inside myself that I wanted to change the situation , I wanted to make something , this one thing . Stevens : What do you think are the most important qualities for a businessperson ? Tam : For me , it 's most important , a vision , determination , and to never say no to yourself . And be open to criticisms , open to learning , and open to criticisms and knowing nothing about the business ; nothing , so you can learn everything by knowing nothing , you know , and be successful in the things that you did n't know . Stevens : You work in a very creative industry , how do you keep your staff motivated in this industry , how do you keep them going , how do you keep them working for you ? Tam : I always tell them my story , how I was in school when my teacher asked for one outfit -- I give them 8 outfits . I told them , do things that I did n't ask you , give me , do your work with passion , it 's more important than `` Oh , 6 o'clock , I have to leave . '' Do something that is out of the box . E-mail to a friend .
Designer Vivienne Tam spoke to CNN 's Andrew Cheng in The Guardian . She started in the fashion industry in the ' 80s , launched own brand in the ' 90s . And her style was inspiration when made Hong Kong designer of the year .