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Jor-El Espina doesn’t call Heirloom a collaboration. It’s a conversation—with Patis Tesoro, the legendary designer, conservationist, and often irreverent purveyor of what she once called “bohemian Filipiniana.” Over lunch at a Tesoro’s Laguna home—invited by the ladies of ArteFino—Espina was handed something far more valuable than approval when they brainstormed their ideas together: trust. “I’m happy she agreed,” he says now, still with some disbelief. “I learned so much from her.”
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Heirloom is a 30-piece collection that will debut exclusively at this year’s ArteFino Fair (July 31–August 3, The Fifth at Rockwell). Rich in color, texture, and storytelling, it merges Espina’s eye for contemporary silhouette with Tesoro’s vocabulary of craft—needlework, patchwork, beadwork, cross-stitch, and layered upcycling drawn from her own archives.
“I used even her old fabrics, small patches and retaso paintings, and applied them in the new collection. In a way, it feels inherited.”
– Jor-El Espina on the creative process behind the collection
Make no mistake, Heirloom isn’t a tribute in the past tense. It’s a gift, threaded with Tesoro’s design spirit—freewheeling but firm, maximalist but meticulous. “Be who you are. Don’t be afraid to do things,” Espina shared this advice before pulling in the notion of countless new ideas from the young generation. “She’s stayed in her aesthetic. And now, when there are so many references online, I think that’s rare.”
It’s why she’s called the “Grand Dame of Philippine Fashion”. For decades, Tesoro has championed the handmade, the handwoven, the imperfect and the impossible-to-industrialize. Her eponymous label never bowed to global polish or outsourced sleekness—instead, she celebrated Filipino culture as messy, layered, and alive. From indigenous weaves to embroidered piña, she used fashion to preserve and provoke. Her 2024 book, Filipiniana Is Forever, reads like both a style guide and a design philosophy. One lesson in particular stayed with Espina: “She told me, ‘A good Filipiniana stays forever.’”
That line became his north star. Heirloom speaks to Tesoro’s technical mastery and expressive flair, but it also reaches forward. “My next goal,” Espina says, “is to make clothes you pass on to your children or families. Pieces that will last.”
Espina doesn’t imitate her. He interprets her. While Tesoro worked with looser silhouettes and instinctive layering, Espina focused on fit and shape—finding structure in all the riot of detail. “If you follow my brand, you can see it,” he explains. “This time, I injected more color, and the silhouettes are more contemporary.” The glittery beadwork was new for him. “I don’t usually do that, but it had to feel more Patis this time.”
Even the parts he assumed would be easy—like Tesoro’s famously freeform constructions—surprised him. “I thought I knew,” he laughs. “But no, there are techniques, a proper way of doing things. Things I had to relearn.”
That’s what makes this collection heirloom in more ways than one. Not just in the fabrics or finishings, but in what’s passed on between two designers. Patis Tesoro shared her world. Jor-El Espina made it for the new. If he gets his way, it’ll be wearable forever.
Photos courtesy of BEFORE DEADLINES
