From Survival to the International Runway: Joy Paese Carries Samoa in Every Baseman Design

For Teleasau Joy Paese, fashion is not simply about creating beautiful clothing. It is an act of faith, an expression of love and a way of carrying her Samoan identity into places where Pacific people have not always been fully seen or recognised.

Born in New Zealand and raised in South Auckland, Joy is the creative force behind Baseman Designs, an Australian-based family business grounded in culture, community and the belief that creativity can grow from even the humblest beginnings.

This September, Joy will take that deeply personal story to Papua New Guinea as one of the designers showcasing at PNG Fashion Week 2026, taking place from 18 to 19 September at APEC Haus in Port Moresby.

For Joy, the invitation is far more than another professional milestone. It represents the opening of a door she once feared she would never be brave enough to approach.

“This opportunity to participate in PNG Fashion Week is a blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said.

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to represent my culture, my family and my community on an international stage.”

A Childhood Surrounded by Colour

Joy’s creative instincts first emerged during her childhood in South Auckland.

Some of her most powerful memories are of attending Samoan weddings and watching the celebrations unfold through colour, fabric and ceremony. She remembers brides changing between two dresses and bridesmaids appearing in voluminous gowns that seemed, to a young girl, as though they had stepped out of the story of Cinderella.

She was fascinated by the beauty of the textiles, the drama of the silhouettes and the way clothing transformed an occasion into something unforgettable.

Art became one of the earliest places in which Joy recognised her own ability. She loved drawing and graffiti-inspired artwork and received awards for art while at school. Yet the possibility of becoming a designer remained distant. Creativity was present, but life would ask her to direct much of her strength elsewhere.

Her Samoan roots extend to the villages of Faleasi‘u, Siumu and Papa Sataua. These connections have shaped not only her identity but also her sense of responsibility as a designer.

Joy speaks of Samoa’s measina—its treasures—as encompassing far more than physical objects. They include language, sacred practices, family histories, ceremonies, traditional knowledge and the values passed from one generation to the next.

Those treasures sit at the centre of her creative work.

Her designs draw inspiration from the rich colours of Samoa, traditional textiles, siapo patterns, island landscapes and the sacred visual language associated with the malu and pe‘a. However, cultural inspiration, in Joy’s view, must always be approached with understanding.

“I blend my Samoan culture with contemporary fashion by creating with respect and purpose,” she said. “Every design must honour the meaning, integrity and stories of our heritage.”

The Family Behind Baseman

Baseman Designs is inseparable from Joy’s family story.

The name originated with her husband, Galumalemana Auimatagi Paese, an experienced graphic designer whose professional career stretches back more than four decades.

From 1992 to 2000, Auimatagi worked with Racebred Marketing, translating artwork into embroidery and working on designs associated with major Australian motorsport brands, including HSV and the Holden Racing Team.

At the time, many customers struggled to pronounce the family name Paese. They began calling him “Baseman,” and the nickname remained.

Behind that name was a Pacific Island man who had entered professional design spaces despite limited English and the assumptions people made about what someone from the islands could achieve.

Joy remembers people expressing surprise when he entered corporate meeting rooms and was introduced as the graphic designer. His talent quietly challenged narrow perceptions of Pacific Islanders and their place within creative and commercial industries.

His knowledge, encouragement and patient guidance eventually helped Joy recognise the possibilities within her own creativity. She began learning design tools, experimenting with costumes and imagining how Samoan art and cultural elements could be carried across garments, accessories and other products.

“I advised that we could put our culture into art, garments and other products,” Joy said.

From that shared belief, Baseman Designs began to evolve.

Today, the business creates for meaningful occasions and diverse communities, producing everything from culturally inspired streetwear and commemorative garments to sports apparel, promotional wear and celebration products.

With considerable competition in the printing industry, Joy understood that the business needed to offer something that could not simply be reproduced by another company. Its strength would be the cultural knowledge, lived experience and human story behind every creation.

A Dress Made Through Adversity

The first garment Joy created carried a meaning that no commercial commission could replicate.

Her daughter needed a dress for her school formal. At the time, the family was facing financial difficulty, and her daughter had also experienced bullying.

Joy decided that the dress would do more than help her daughter look beautiful. It would remind her of who she was.

She wanted her daughter to walk into that formal knowing that being Samoan and dark-skinned was a source of strength, dignity and beauty. The garment became a mother’s message to her child: stand tall, walk proudly and never allow cruelty to determine your value.

“I let her attire express her reaction,” Joy recalled. “I wanted her to strut, walk proudly and enjoy her evening.”

Her children believed in what she had created. Her church community encouraged her. Slowly, what had begun as an act of maternal love became evidence of a deeper calling.

That first dress established a principle that continues to define Baseman Designs: clothing can speak when words are difficult. It can restore confidence, defend identity and remind a person of their worth.

Lofa, Faith and the Strength to Continue

Joy’s journey has also been shaped by her experience as the mother and full-time carer of her son, Lofa, who has special needs.

There were times when the responsibilities, isolation and painful attitudes surrounding disability almost caused her to surrender her creative ambitions. Her family lived privately for many years, and the printing business became an important means of survival while she cared for her son.

But Joy does not speak of Lofa as the reason her life became smaller. She speaks of him as the person through whom her purpose became stronger.

“I almost gave up, but God blessed me with my special-needs son and gave me a purpose to be strong,” she said. “Lofa has taught me to love and to serve in every way.”

One of her most painful experiences occurred in 2004, when she took Lofa to a Benny Hinn gathering at Apia Park during her first visit to Samoa.

Rather than feeling embraced, she encountered reactions that left her deeply hurt. People stared at mother and son as though disability were something dangerous or contagious.

For Joy, the experience created an uncomfortable confrontation between the values Samoa professes and the treatment sometimes experienced by its most vulnerable people.

She questioned how a nation founded on God could allow people living with disabilities and their families to feel rejected.

That moment stayed with her.

It strengthened her determination to use whatever platform she gained to affirm that worth is not determined by physical ability, appearance, wealth, social status or how easily a person fits into society’s expectations.

Joy’s message is uncompromising: whether someone is talented, dark-skinned, disabled, struggling financially or standing outside conventional ideas of success, that person remains worthy.

This conviction is woven into the emotional foundation of Baseman Designs.

“We serve with love,” she said. “We are not rich with gold. We strive to survive, but we always hope that what we create and the services we provide will honour the people who trust us.”

The Runway That Changed Everything

Joy’s direction changed when she attended Paradise Runway in Queensland in 2026.

Until then, much of her creativity had remained behind the scenes. Fear—not a lack of ability—had prevented her from fully stepping into public view.

At Paradise Runway, she saw Pacific fashion occupying space with confidence. She witnessed designers, models and creatives presenting their identities without apology. The experience awakened something that had been waiting beneath years of responsibility, sacrifice and self-doubt.

“Paradise Runway changed my direction,” she said. “I felt that God had done this for me and my family and had begun opening doors.”

Designer Mareva Bower took Joy under her wing, giving her encouragement and a sense that she belonged within the industry. Joy contributed a piece of Samoa to the runway through headpieces and accessories—an experience she describes as a blessing from above.

Along the way, she also formed meaningful connections, including meeting PNG creative Maimai.

These encounters showed her that fashion could build relationships across the Pacific. Papua New Guinean, Samoan and other regional creatives could stand beside one another—not hidden beneath larger international labels, but recognised in their own names and on their own terms.

For Joy, that recognition matters.

Pacific creatives are frequently expected to place their work beneath someone else’s commercial umbrella. Their patterns, stories and aesthetics may be celebrated while the people and communities behind them remain unnamed.

Baseman Designs is part of Joy’s answer to that imbalance.

She wants Pacific creativity to be acknowledged as sophisticated, commercially valuable and globally relevant. She believes that Pacific designers may not always communicate through the established language of the international fashion industry, but they communicate powerfully through the work of their hands.

Carrying Samoa to Papua New Guinea

At PNG Fashion Week, Joy hopes to present a collection that allows audiences to feel the strength, pride, beauty and dignity of Samoan culture.

She dreams of one day creating and presenting the complete ceremonial attire of a Taupou—the daughter of a high chief—from her headpiece to her full costume. To Joy, the Taupou embodies village pride, service, grace and honour.

She also hopes to create the full traditional presentation of a Manaia, the son of a high chief, carrying the heritage, dignity and responsibilities of his family.

These are not garments she wishes to treat as costumes emptied of context. They are representations of position, responsibility and cultural continuity.

This is why cultural integrity remains central to her process.

“What makes my work stand out is the heart, culture and purpose behind every piece,” Joy said. “Every piece carries a story and is created with respect.”

Her signature lies in combining bold Pacific-inspired details and meaningful symbolism with contemporary fashion, while protecting the dignity of the traditions from which those designs emerge.

If her garments could speak, she says, they would speak of creation from the heart, courage, strength, love and culture.

Fashion as Memory, Identity and Purpose

The deeper message behind Joy’s work is that fashion can carry far more than an aesthetic.

A garment can honour someone who has passed away. It can represent a village or family. It can preserve cultural memory, unite a community or help someone reclaim a sense of identity.

For Joy, fashion is capable of telling Pacific people: you are visible, you are worthy, and your culture deserves respect.

Her own journey has taught her to trust the process, remain humble, learn from mistakes and never create without understanding the meaning behind a design.

“Fashion is not only about clothing,” she said. “It can honour, unite and inspire people.”

Her greatest obstacle has often been fear—particularly the fear of being seen and recognised. Yet her work has gradually moved from private creation into public purpose.

Every sacrifice, including precious time away from her family, has shaped the designer she is becoming. She no longer wants fear to keep her hidden.

PNG Fashion Week now presents an opportunity to stand before an international audience and declare who she is: a Samoan woman, a mother, a carer, a wife, a creative and a designer whose work was forged through both love and adversity.

A Pacific Brand With a Global Future

Over the next five to ten years, Joy hopes Baseman Designs will continue to grow while remaining faithful to its cultural and spiritual foundations.

She wants the brand to reach international runways and creative platforms where Pacific design can be recognised on its own merits. She hopes to explore opportunities in New Zealand, throughout the Pacific Islands, in the United States and across Europe.

Future appearances at platforms such as Couture in Paradise and Paradise Runway would represent further steps towards building relationships and introducing Baseman Designs to wider audiences.

Although her heart will always remain with the Pacific community, Joy designs for people from every culture and background.

Her ambition is not to abandon her roots in pursuit of global success. It is to prove that a designer can enter the world while remaining firmly rooted in faith, family and cultural responsibility.

“I would be grateful for an opportunity that allows us to grow, learn and collaborate while remaining true to my values and culture,” she said. “A chance to take our designs further without losing who we are would mean so much.”

More than anything, Joy hopes her journey will encourage the next generation to trust their gifts and refuse to let their beginnings determine the limits of their future.

“Keep the faith, stay humble and trust God’s timing,” she said. “Never let where you come from limit where God can take you.”

From a schoolgirl captivated by the colours of Samoan weddings, to a mother sewing strength into her daughter’s formal dress, to a carer building a family business from within a private world, Joy Paese has never created only for appearance.

She creates to remember.

She creates to honour.

She creates so that people who have felt unseen can recognise themselves in something beautiful.

Now, as Baseman Designs prepares to take its place at PNG Fashion Week 2026, Joy is stepping onto the runway with the faith that carried her through every season of uncertainty.

“I want the world to know that I am Baseman Designs—Joy Paese, grounded in faith, family and culture,” she said.

“Everything I create is by God’s grace. I hope my journey always reflects Him and honours where I come from. I design because God blessed me with a gift, and through His grace, purpose can grow from the humblest beginnings.”