From Sunuvi Village to the National Runway Judy Ejampi Brings Lufa Basket to PNG Fashion Week 2026

When Judy Ejampi steps onto the national fashion stage at PNG Fashion Week 2026, she will not walk onto that runway alone.

She will carry with her the hands of more than 5,000 Indigenous weavers, artisans and potters. She will carry the knowledge of Papua New Guinean women and communities whose skills have been passed from one generation to the next. She will carry the story of her late father, who taught her to work hard, speak with confidence and believe that she had something valuable to contribute to the world.

And through every bilum, basket, shawl and handwoven creation presented on the runway, Judy will carry a bold declaration:

Papua New Guinean craftsmanship belongs in the world of contemporary fashion and luxury.

PNG Fashion Week 2026 will mark Judy’s debut on the national runway as the founder and creative force behind Lufa Basket, a Papua New Guinean contemporary craft and luxury lifestyle brand connecting traditional craftsmanship with modern markets.

For Judy, this moment represents far more than her first fashion show. It is the culmination of a journey that began in Sunuvi Village in the Dunatina area of Henganofi, Eastern Highlands Province, and grew into a mission to build opportunities for thousands of Papua New Guinean makers.

A childhood surrounded by enterprise and creativity

Judy was born and raised in Sunuvi Village and speaks the Kafe Kamano language. Although she now calls Port Moresby home—a place she describes simply as her “sanctuary”—the values and identity of her village remain deeply embedded in everything she creates.

Her earliest encounters with clothing, craftsmanship and business came through her parents.

They owned second-hand clothing shops across Papua New Guinea, and Judy grew up surrounded by bales of clothing arriving in containers. Each new shipment brought excitement, possibility and work. She and her siblings helped in the family businesses from an early age, gaining practical lessons in responsibility, customer service and enterprise long before they were old enough to fully understand their value.

Her father, the late Ejampi Suave, became the greatest influence on her life.

He allowed his children to participate in the shops and encouraged them to speak openly during the family’s monthly religious meetings. He taught Judy that her voice mattered and that she should never be afraid to stand up for herself or work for the life she wanted.

“My father was the greatest influence in my life,” she says. “Today, I have no issue standing up, working hard for myself and striving to become better in every area of my life.”

Her father also brought home carvings, cane furniture and baskets, quietly exposing Judy to the beauty and durability of Papua New Guinean craftsmanship. One cane basket he purchased in 1994 was passed on to Judy in 2004. More than three decades later, it remains with her.

It is not merely an object. It is a lasting reminder of where her journey began.

Turning tradition into opportunity

Judy founded Lufa Basket in June 2022.

The brand takes its name from the community where its baskets originate, but its purpose reaches across provincial and cultural boundaries. Today, Lufa Basket works with more than 5,000 Indigenous weavers, artisans and potters from the Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, East Sepik, Madang, Milne Bay and the National Capital District.

Its mission is to create pathways from Indigenous communities to local and global markets.

“We don’t simply sell products,” Judy explains. “We create opportunities, preserve culture and connect Indigenous craftsmanship with the world.”

For Judy, every handmade piece contains far more than its physical materials. It carries identity, history, knowledge and the livelihood of the person and community that created it.

Her work seeks to protect these traditions while demonstrating that Indigenous craftsmanship does not have to remain confined to conventional categories. A bilum can be both an expression of cultural knowledge and a luxury fashion piece. A cane basket can carry generations of tradition while occupying a place within a contemporary lifestyle market. A hand-loomed rug can tell a Papua New Guinean story inside a home anywhere in the world.

That philosophy has become the unmistakable signature of Lufa Basket.

“My signature is not just what I design,” Judy says. “It is how I transform Indigenous PNG craftsmanship into contemporary luxury while keeping culture, community and authenticity at the heart of every piece.”

A woman who created her own opportunities

The road to PNG Fashion Week has required courage, sacrifice and unwavering self-belief.

Judy resigned from her job to manage Lufa Basket full-time. She invested her own finances, time and resources into the business. She strengthened relationships with weaving communities and pursued markets and exposure overseas.

She did not wait for opportunity to arrive.

“All the opportunities were created by me or sought out by me,” she says.

Her resilience was forged long before the launch of Lufa Basket. Fourteen years ago, the breakdown of her first marriage led to one of the darkest periods of her life. Judy experienced depression for six months and was forced to confront a painful new reality.

That period taught her that she could lift herself up, face what had happened and continue moving forward.

The same determination has carried her through the uncertainty of building a business and entering an industry in which she is still finding her place.

Judy describes her belief in her future as almost “delusionally strong”—a conviction that, regardless of the obstacles in front of her, she will succeed.

Faith has also remained central to her journey. One of the most significant doors opened when Lufa Basket secured its first shop at Brian Bell Plaza in Gordons, Port Moresby. The store officially opened on 4 May 2023, becoming one of Judy’s proudest achievements.

It gave Lufa Basket a physical home, but more importantly, it created a platform through which the work of PNG artisans could reach customers and generate economic opportunity.

The first runway

PNG Fashion Week 2026 will be Judy’s first runway experience.

There are no previous collections or fashion shows for her to compare it with. She enters the national event with openness, curiosity and an eagerness to learn from the designers and creative professionals around her.

But while it may be her first runway, Judy is not arriving without experience.

She understands craftsmanship because she has practised it herself. Two of the products carried in the Lufa Basket shop were woven by Judy’s own hands, and she continues to weave today. Her first major creation was a bilum made from dried banana bark.

Completing it left her “over the moon.”

Now, those years of learning, observation, experimentation and working directly with weaving communities will converge in her PNG Fashion Week collection.

Audiences can expect a bold, contemporary celebration of Papua New Guinean culture, craftsmanship and fashion. The collection will bring together handwoven bilums, handcrafted cane baskets and hand-loomed rugs, transforming traditional materials and techniques into modern runway pieces.

Inspired by PNG’s people, landscapes and cultural heritage, the collection will be earthy, elegant, powerful and unmistakably Papua New Guinean.

Among its most personal creations are the bilum shawl and the Tulito bilum. Both began as ideas that required months of development, trials, mistakes and learning before Judy felt they had been brought to life.

Their presence on the runway will represent the beauty of persistence—the transformation of an idea into something tangible, wearable and worthy of being seen.

More than products on a runway

For Judy, being selected for PNG Fashion Week 2026 signals the evolution of Lufa Basket from a traditional craft and social enterprise into a contemporary PNG craft, culture and luxury lifestyle brand.

“This opportunity is about more than putting products on a runway,” she says. “It is about showing the world that Indigenous PNG craftsmanship belongs in spaces of fashion, design, creativity and luxury.”

When the final model completes the Lufa Basket showcase, Judy wants audiences to remember the beauty of the bilums, cane baskets and hand-loomed rugs. But she wants them to remember something even more important: the Indigenous hands, stories and communities behind every creation.

She wants people to understand that purchasing and wearing one of these pieces leaves a meaningful footprint. It supports an artisan, strengthens a community, protects cultural knowledge and helps ensure traditional skills are passed on to future generations.

The message of the collection is clear:

Indigenous craftsmanship belongs on the runway—and it belongs in global fashion.

From Papua New Guinea to the world

Judy’s vision extends far beyond her national runway debut.

Over the next five to ten years, she hopes to open three Lufa Basket stores in Australia and two additional stores in Papua New Guinea. She wants to see the brand represented in Paris, Milan, London and New York, as well as at major international fashion weeks, exhibitions and premium lifestyle retailers.

She also sees Australia and the Pacific as an important bridge between PNG craftsmanship and the world. Opportunities such as Couture in Paradise and Paradise Runway in Brisbane could introduce the brand to new audiences, strengthen international partnerships and help move Lufa Basket from local recognition to regional and global prominence.

Her ambition is not simply to build a successful brand bearing her name. It is to generate sustained international demand and greater income opportunities for the thousands of artisans connected to Lufa Basket.

If an international buyer, investor, retailer or fashion house discovers Lufa Basket through PNG Fashion Week, Judy hopes they will offer a genuine, long-term partnership—one capable of taking the brand to the world without separating it from the culture, people and authenticity at its heart.

“I want Lufa Basket to become a global platform for Indigenous PNG craftsmanship,” she says.

A debut that could change thousands of lives

Ten years from now, Judy hopes she will look back at PNG Fashion Week 2026 as a turning point.

She hopes it will have opened international doors, created global partnerships and helped establish Papua New Guinean contemporary craft as a respected part of international fashion and luxury.

More importantly, she hopes to see thousands of Indigenous makers earning greater incomes and a new generation of PNG designers stepping confidently onto international stages.

Her advice to young creatives is grounded in the way she has lived her own life:

“Do not wait for the world to give you permission to dream. Start where you are, use what you have and believe in the value of where you come from. Your culture is not a limitation—it can be your greatest creative advantage.”

Judy Ejampi will make her national runway debut at PNG Fashion Week 2026 as a designer, entrepreneur and proud Papua New Guinean woman. But the significance of her showcase will reach well beyond one woman and one collection.

It will be a national platform for the weavers, artisans and potters whose knowledge lives inside every piece.

It will be a celebration of culture transformed into contemporary possibility.

And it will be a statement to the world that Papua New Guinean craftsmanship is not only part of the nation’s heritage—it is part of its future.

“I took the opportunity,” Judy says of the legacy she hopes to create, “and it created opportunities for others.”

That is the real story Judy Ejampi will bring to the PNG Fashion Week runway: proudly Indigenous, women-led, culturally grounded and globally ambitious.

Proudly PNG. Crafted by our people. Designed for the world.