Yorkers and celebrities, was this month featured in the fashion magazine Vogue and the Black American Newsmagazine Emerge.

Robert Ming, a fashion designer and former assistant to John Galliano, this week spoke to a Royal Gazette reporter from his home in New York.

"I feel wonderful (about the recognition), and really appreciate it,'' Mr.

Ming said. "However I knew it would happen because the things I design are really avant-garde.'' The magazine articles explained that Mr. Ming decided to create this collection on his birthday last year.

He explained: "I was sitting in the sand in front of Georgia O'Keefe's house in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I took a stick and drew a shape in the sand and I knew immediately that the shape would become the basis for a collection of high end mirrors. It was the start of a creative voyage which has brought me to this point.'' Since then he has sold mirrors to stars such as Madonna and hairstylist Oribe.

The 15-piece collection of hand-cut Italian glass mirrors sell from $295 to $3,000.

The designs, which gather inspiration from American and African culture, and extraterrestrial life, are sold from his small Upper East Side studio and in six New York high end furniture stores.

Mr. Ming also plans to have four more stores selling the mirrors by the New Year and hopes to expand the market for the African part of the collection.

"In New York I had no problem getting the other ones in the stores,'' he said. "Pieces such as the exclamation mark are strange and original and were well accepted. I want the African collection to have more exposure.

"The African collection is very specifically geared toward African Americans who appreciate Afrocentric art in their homes.'' Mr. Ming is the son of Bermuda College chef Frederick and Clearwater Middle School principal Charlotte Ming of Hamilton Parish.

And yesterday his mother said the whole family was proud of his accomplishments.

"When you see your child in a magazine it just makes one feel it was all worth it,'' Mrs. Ming said. "This is awesome. I never dreamt he would go this far.'' Mr. Ming, who has a one-month old son named Alexi Robert Ming with his wife Kettia, left Bermuda in 1989 for Atlanta where he studied at the American College for the Applied Arts for a year, before transferring to the school's London campus.

It was there that he received degrees in fashion design and merchandising.

Mr. Ming then moved to Paris where he designed for various fashion houses before going to New York.

Mr. Ming says he would love to live in Bermuda.

Although he often returns home, he said he found that New York offered him better opportunities in art and marketing.

"I tried to set up part of the marketing side of my company in Bermuda about three years ago, but it didn't work,'' Mr. Ming explained. "I really miss Bermuda, but in New York I can do anything in a second.'' Robert Ming