It generally requires different types of people to hold skills in arts and sciences. For some, painting a picture is a tough and hopeless task compared with their ease in managing personal wealth. Others may be great interpreters, but quite lacking in calculation skills.

But there are a rare few for whom both sides of the brain seem equally prepared to pull their weight. Orchuma Prachasaisoradej, a senior analyst at the Bank of Thailand's Payment Systems Department, is one of them.

Orchuma is currently playing a key role in drafting new laws for the central bank to regulate the e-payment business, which is not only complicated, but it also changes rapidly.

At the same time, she owns and designs for two brands of clothing and accessories - Rafike and Leprika - sold at Siam Paragon, the Emporium, Central Chidlom and Suan Lum Night Bazaar. She even has her own website, www.rafakidesign.com.

Orchuma felt the stirrings of her talent in the arts when she was studying at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, but could not divert from her academic studies because her father disagreed.

Her gift was resurrected when she was studying Microsoft Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley, on a scholarship from the Bank of Thailand. She began simultaneously attending product design courses.

"I was required to study computing, but I was eager to learn other things, so I enrolled in more than 100 product design courses, while my classmates registered in only about 40 courses," she said.

Orchuma's confidence was boosted after one of her projects - "Dog Backpack" - attracted interest from an international company, which later sought production rights. She returned home full of enthusiasm and holding two master's degrees and a certificate, along with many new ideas gathered from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts school and from New York, one of the world's centres of fashion.

With initial capital of Bt10,000, and without her parent's support, Orchuma and her architect brother started their business at Suan Lum Night Bazaar, which offered a lot of customers looking for unique and different clothing styles. Later, she joined domestic and foreign events organised by the Export Promotion Department, boosting both her reputation and her income.

In the fiercely competitive fashion business, she has learnt that she must react to business cycles and to consumer behaviour, which she says changes rapidly and is influenced by many factors. The current slowdown in domestic consumption, for instance, has affected sales, so she has changed both her design styles and marketing to meet the challenge.

Orchuma proved her talents when she won a contest last year to design uniforms for Bangkok Airways. Her success arose not only from her design skill, but also from her ability for business analysis.

"I didn't expect to win because I hadn't directly studied fashion design and the other designers made their patterns very fashionable. But I analysed the former uniform, the uniforms of other airlines and colour tones. I wanted it to be modern, but practical to wear in real life, and under the offered budget," she said.

After her success, she has been hotly sought after by many other companies wanting her to design their uniforms.

Her dreams began coming true when she was invited to sell clothing and accessories in Bangkok's best-known department stores. It made her regard her fashion design business in a more orderly, professional way. She began applying market analyses to her plans, and studied customer behaviour, which she found was different in each store and varied according to the tourism season.

She says she is able to mix her skills in arts and sciences efficiently and use all the knowledge gathered from both her careers. She manages her stores and business accounts herself. Her practical business views have benefited her job at the central bank because she says there is a lack of business orientation in some areas. She is also a fashion lecturer for the central bank's activities.

In caring for her personal finances, Orchuma puts 10 per cent of the stores' income into the bank accounts every month. The rest goes to business expenses and for further investment. She prefers using her own working capital rather than borrowing and rejects investment in mutual funds or the stock market, which she says are suitable for "deep-pocket investors".

Orchuma is keen to extend both her abilities and her careers. In the future, she wants to win customers' minds, to establish her own clothing factories and sell her brands on the global market.

Anoma Srisukkasem

The Nation