Dr. Aivee wears ZIA WYCOCO top, COS trousers, and TIFFANY & CO jewelry. Dr. Z wears a COS suit set Photographed by Andrei Suleik.
Dr. Aivee wears ZIA WYCOCO top, COS trousers, and TIFFANY & CO jewelry. Dr. Z wears a COS suit set Photographed by Andrei Suleik.
From a single space in Burgos Circle, Drs. Aivee and Z Teo look back on 16 years of building The Aivee Clinic, rooted in trust, purpose, and partnership.
“We’ll build it and then they will come,” recalls Dr. Z Teo, as they stood in front of the lot where the first Aivee Clinic would one day rise. In moments of hesitation and excitement, building something entirely their own, Dr. Aivee shares that her husband’s words not only anchored the vision for their business but also affirmed the strength of their partnership: as husband and wife, co-founders, and eventually, as parents.
“I still remember when we were conceptualizing the clinic,” reminisces Dr. Aivee, recalling how the idea to design the 450-square-meter clinic around classic French interiors took shape, from the high ceilings and chandelier to the black-and-white tiles and intricate paneling on the doors. “It felt like a French salon.”
“There was nothing like it yet in the country at that time,” Dr. Z adds, pointing to this early design decision as a symbol of their approach to innovation. For them, it was intuitive, elevated, and always a step ahead, but not without risk.
It was also personal. When it launched in Burgos Circle in 2009, Aivee Clinic was more than a workplace, it became an extension of their daily lives. “We had to put a small room at the back where we put KenZ there, so that we can see him in between patients,” shares Dr. Z of their firstborn, who, as a baby, spent his earliest days surrounded by the buzz of consultations and treatment sessions.
The Aivee Clinic wasn’t just built from vision and design, it was also built between flights, with weekends spent shuttling between Manila and Singapore. For years, the couple maintained two homes and two clinics with one shared mission: to live a life grounded in family and purpose.
In Singapore, Dr. Aivee finds herself more in tune with being maternal. “Everything has been put into place, which gives me the liberty to actually be a mother, focus on my kids and unearth that mother instinct in me and to enjoy motherhood as well.”
Meanwhile in Manila, life with Dr. Z is focused on forward-thinking decisions, introducing treatments like the Aivee Biolift, a procedure formulated with regenerative biostimulator that contains PLLA-SCA (poly-L-lactic acid), which helps support the skin’s inner structure for healthier, restored skin.
16 years on, the Aivee Clinic, through its founders, remains grounded in the same values it was built on: trust, care, and purpose. For both doctors, the work continues, not only in shaping beauty innovation, but building something that endures. For Drs. Aivee and Z Teo, the strength of their clinic is rooted in years of shared decision-making and mutual support, summing it up with:
“We’re stronger when we’re together.”
Follow @theaiveeclinic and @aestheticsbygalderma.ph on Instagram.
Photographs by Andrei Suleik. Art Direction by Lara Castañeda. Styling by Steven Coralde of Qurator Studio. Assisted by Nina Cuyana. Makeup by Angeline dela Cruz. Hair by JA Feliciano. Account manager Claudia Cruz. Producer Erika Palacios. Written by Christina Zabat.
