Ma. Beatriz Pamintuan Tesoro—aka Patis, was exposed to embroidery with the Assumption nuns in the Visayan island of Iloilo when she was a child. After studying at Maryknoll through elementary and secondary school, she took a year of college at Marygrove in Detroit. Continuing college studies in Maryknoll Manila at age 19, she met a nd married her history teacher, Atty Jose Claro Tesoro. The Tesoros operate the largest chain of handicraft stores in the country. In 1972, her mother-in-law commissioned her to create a new line of embroidered blouses to go with the then popular blue jeans. Ten years later, she opened her own label, ‘Patis,’ staging her first fashion show in 1984. Since then, her clothes and fabric have exhibited in New York, St Louis, San Francisco, Toronto, Brussels Osaka, Bangkok, and Beijing. She exhibited her version of Philippine fashion at the Musee d’l Homme in Paris in 1994. In 1984, Patis and a group of friends such as Don Ado Escudero, founded the Patrones de Casa Manila Foundation, an organization whose aim is to educate people on Philippine history through the preservation and restoration of its architecture and way of life. Such activities included the refurbishment of an authentic turn-of-the century dwelling in the Intramuros, or Walled City, of Manila. There was also a living museum wherein members of the Patro- nes and their families would dress in authentic Filipiniaña and re-enact everyday activities. It was while researching for authentic materials that she visited Kalibo, Aklan and found that traditional skills of weaving pineapple fiber were on the decline. Alarmed at this, she personally worked for a revival of the piña fabric. In Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, she was responsible for the development of a new type of piña, Pinyang Bisaya, woven from the leaves of the Philippine green pineapple. She has innovated better ways for hand-looming abaca. She has encouraged the natural dyeing process of the T’boli tribe in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, and Sagada, Bontoc. She has established nurseries for dye-yielding plants for development into powder for dyes in Banaue, Mt. Province, and Namarabar, Abra.

Singlehandedly, she has redesigned and revived the craftsmanship of: the buntal hats of Lucban, Quezon; the fiber flowers made in Nueva Ecija and Smokey Mountain; the traditional basket-weaving of the tribes of Cabugao, Kalinga; the bamboo frames for the handwoven mats in Laminusa Island; the anahaw fans made in Lopez, Quezon; the abaca bags of Lucban, Quezon; the hand-beaded appliques for ornamental use in Bulacan and Laguna; the designs for bamboo furniture; the making of patadyong fabric in Miag-ao, Panay; the woven Ticug grass mats of San Miguel, Leyte; and Philippine silk with the Sericulture Development Institute of the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial University in Bacnotan, La Union.For Patis, fabric must be enhanced to the max. Her brand of fabric is exotic and exquisite using a combination of embroidery, handpainting, and beading. Her colors and combinations are always fresh and exciting. At her home at 169 Wilson Street in San Juan, she employs about 40 girls full-time to hand- embroider, hand-paint or sew beads onto fabric that goes into her clothes lines. A sample of the things she does can be seen in the limited collectors edition Patis did for the Filipina Barbie Doll.

Her entry into dollmaking took three years to develop. She also has a line of small, specialty dolls available at Tesoro’s . Her handmade, large-size, high-end dolls (that take eight people to complete), cost as much as P30,000 or more. None of her dolls are the same, each is one-of-a-kind. Consultant for the facial expression and coloring of her dolls is no less than one of the pillars of the famous Dimasalang group of painters, Romulo Galicano.

Not satisfied with her own work in fabric and fashion, her presence, expertise and support have nudged many traditional crafts to international level. Many provincial craftsmen produce products unimaginatively. To bring excitement and ersatz to these small producers, she has contributed ideas on product development to many of them, and assisted in promoting their items here and abroad. Perhaps no other woman has contributed to the development of Philippine fabric and crafts as she has. For her efforts, she is the TOWNS awardee for 1992 (Outstanding Women in the Nations Service in the field of Cultural Revival) from the International Association of Lions Clubs, State Council of Governors, District 301. She also has a Parangal ng Bayan award from Ateneo University and the Dakilang Pilipina award for Fashion from the Caloocan Jaycees.