Patis On My Mind
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Patis Tesoro (Photo Courtesy of Patis Tesoro)
When I was still living in Manila, I had heard of her talent in creating colorful, casual, carefully embroidered gowns from retasos (leftover cloths), but I never got to meet her until we invited her to be our featured designer in 2012 at a fundraiser I chaired to send children to school in the Philippines. With her warm and welcoming smile, I immediately felt a kinship with her. Eleven years later, Patis is on my mind. I heard that she had moved permanently to San Pablo after her husband, Tito, died from complications from diabetes in 2016. She met Tito when she was only 18 and he was 23 and a new history teacher in Ateneo who had graduated magna cum laude. They were married for 45 years.
On a recent trip to Manila, I messaged her to ask if I could visit her in San Pablo. Coincidentally, she was having a lecture that Saturday by Florica Zaharia, conservator emerita at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and director and co-owner of the Muzeul Textilelor in Romania, on how to conserve local textiles such as pina, abaca, silk and Philippine cotton, textiles that Patis has worked with during her career. Zaharia invited Patis to exhibit her textiles in Romania in November this year.
Patis had renovated the PatisTito Garden Cafe as her permanent residence, atelier, store, studio, lecture room, garden and much more. So eclectic, so very Patis. She confided that she had been diagnosed with Stage 5 borderline renal failure and was advised to begin preparing for the inevitable. She refused to accept the doctor’s verdict. With her daughter, Nina, they researched online on chronic kidney disease (CKD) reversal and at the same time searched for the right doctors and a nutritionist. Although CKD is generally progressive and irreversible, there are steps people can take to slow progression, enabling them to live longer without complications or the need for renal replacement therapy. She turned vegetarian and adopted a positive attitude. Since the diagnosis, Patis has been able to scale back the renal failure to Stage 4 and hopes to achieve Stage 3 eventually.
Patis’ Boutique (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)
Born Maria Beatriz Pamintuan and nicknamed Patis, she grew up in her mother’s dress shop in Iloilo in the ‘60s.
“I used to hang out in her workshop and made dolls out of the scraps. Maybe this began the voyage towards becoming a fashion designer.”
She learned embroidery in high school and, after marrying into the Tesoro family, she learned the business of making indigenous and traditional art from her mother-in-law. Patis is known for her baro’t saya (traditional) clothes, and for promoting the use of local weaves and natural art forms, reviving the terno and native dress and fabrics such as the piña.
Embroidery done by Patis (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)
When her husband died in 2016, Patis started doing colored illustrations to deal with her grief. “Like Mexican folk art paintings, Patis’ colored illustrations are celebrations of color, nature and religion. Unlike other artisans who portray Caucasian features, however, she favors brown faces and flat noses and the third eye on the forehead,” thediarist.ph describes them. “The most personal among her works is the impressionistic artwork depicting her late son, Jose Manuel or Joel, composed with the third eye and a dove.”
An achiever at Harvard Law School and Yale University, Joel jumped to his death at the Hong Kong International Airport in 2008. Patis speaks openly of how depression runs on both sides of her family, but she refuses to make it an excuse or make it a focal point in her life. Instead, she focuses on creativity, such as making handmade clothes, drawing and painting, gardening and trying to mentor others in crafts and the revival especially in Filipino traditions, arts and culture. “When I stop focusing on myself and develop people relations and create beautiful things, I beat my depression.”
One of the colored illustrations of Patis (Photos by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)
In San Pablo, Laguna, Patis is able to garden, plant trees and pursue other passions such as cooking and living a Filipino lifestyle that is less stressful and outside of the city. She hopes to inspire others to do the same. The place is indeed beaming with foliage, artistic nooks and crannies, Zen-like spots and antique lattice Capiz windows.
Dining Area (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)
At the PatisTito Cafe: (top left) the antique lattice capiz windows, a place to meditate, and a colorful tiled staircase (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco).
There is no slowing down for Patis despite a health setback. The fashion designer, social activist, heritage conservationist, serial entrepreneur and lifestyle icon says she would like to now concentrate on mentoring artists.
“The dream is to make this a creative mentorship place where you meet different kinds of people. Real, passionate artists. I want to share what I know and what I have experienced with people. Creativity is a gift God gives to everyone if only everyone opens their spirit to it. That’s why I am encouraging and building PatisTito Garden Café to be a hub for all these experiences (environment, lifestyle, fashion, art, food, etc.) and influences to inspire creativity.” She advices budding artists to have a passion for creating beautiful things and to persevere.
It was raining when I visited Patis that day in San Pablo, Laguna. The scent of water and refreshed air that comes after a rain were signs that Patis’ new journey is about to unfold. I know she will weather all odds. An amazing and inspiring woman, Patis will always be on my mind.
For more information about PatisTito Garden Cafe and B&B:
Youtube: Verbena Lodge at PatisTito Garden Cafe-San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines
Facebook: PatisTito Garden Cafe
