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About Portland Mercantile Company

Portland Mercantile Company is an online retail store located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We offer an ever growing list of unique jewelry, designer handbags, silk chiffon and burnout velvet scarves, womens' and mens' fashion watches, mens' neckwear, colorful and wind-tested umbrellas, and other accessories; many designed right here in the Pacific Northwest. Our goal is to provide all of our customers with outstanding high-quality products, great service, a smooth shopping experience, and a reason to come back.

We are constantly updating our web store with fresh designs and new product offerings regularly, so please check back often. If you want to be included in our periodic announcements of new products and promotional emails, with an opportunity to save on your purchases, please sign up for our free email at the bottom of our home page. You can opt out at any time.

Some of the great designs and products you will find in our web store include those from:

Handbags

Dana Herbert
Portland, Oregon

Dana Herbert lives in Portland, Oregon where her line is designed and manufactured. With a lifelong love of textiles and color, Dana started designing accessories in 1998. From the first silk burnout velvets to the current selection of spring silk prints, every season brings a fresh new collection of luxurious, yet functional accessories. Dana travels to New York, Los Angeles, and Paris to see what's new and beautiful, looking for fabrics that will offer her customers something unique to wear.

Jazzd
San Diego, California

Jazzd celebrates fun, individuality, and feminity through its stylish interpretation of current trends rendered in vivid colors and cutting-edge styles. The inspiration behind Jazzd is to offer style and function at an affordable price. Each season Jazzd strives to bring you fresh, unique collections that reflect their philosophy.

Kimono Momo
Bend, Oregon

In Japanese, Kimono means something to wear and Momo means peach. Kimono Momo Obi Clutch bags are elegant and perfect for special occasions. They are made from vintage Japanese obi, the broad sash typically worn with a Japanese kimono.

Mad by Design
Chicago, Illinois

Mad By Design is a specialty women's accessories company featuring Eco-Friendly Bamboo handbags made from sustainable bamboo.

Maruca Design
Boulder, Colorado

Founded by Rex Maruca, Maruca Design has been making fashionable handbags for well over a decade. Today, Maruca Design proudly cultivates the art of personal adornment by creating functional fabric vessels for discerning, fashion-conscious women of all ages who enjoy making a statement with their unique accessories. Maruca Design uses only the most sophisticated U.S. milled textiles, many of their own custom design so that their handbags are exclusive and collectable.

Mint Workshop
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Karen Balcom's Mint Workshop creative designs are inspired by her intense love of textiles. After building a successful business of sewing for home decor, Karen has developed stylish and functional accessory bags using beautiful modern fabrics. Her "Smint" zippered pouches are the perfect size for a full complement of "girl stuff" (stuff not included). Her Messenger Bags are hard to miss and are large enough for most small laptops. Mint Workshop bags are made in small quantities by Karen with great care and attention to detail using only high quality materials.

Neshama by Avara Yaron
Jacksonville, Oregon

Neshama is the creation of Avara and Asher Yaron. Their talents in art and design, along with the deep connection they both have to the spiritual world, creates the alchemy that is Neshama, a name taken from the Hebrew word for "soul". Recently, Neshama handbags have been seen carried by many of Hollywood's "A" list. When you see the attention to detail and the wonderful artisanship that goes into the Neshama Empress, Fan, Shell, and Bracelet bags, you can see why these bags have received so much attention.

Zazou
Berkeley, California

Zazou has been designing scarves and women's accessories for over two decades. For Zazou, it is an adventure in the transforming quality of the detail. Zazou has created products that reflect their interest in art movements, popular culture, and nature. Their prints are designed exclusively for Zazou by Californian painter Christopher Carroll, who uses paint, cut paper, pen and ink and collage techniques to create them.

Jewelry

Adajio Collection
Longmont, Colorado

Inspired by a diversity of imagery -- from ancient art of the Americas to contemporary African, Asian, and European motifs -- the artists' interest in color and texture infuses each item in the collection with a unique visual appeal. Adajio items are etched, then embellished by hand with a special proprietary process that adds color and interest to each piece. Earrings are completed with gold-filled or sterling ear wires, as well as glass, metal and crystal beads. The resulting jewelry is not only unique and colorful, but also lightweight and comfortable to wear.

Bask Jewelry
Soquel, California

Bask Jewelry was founded in 1987 by Steven Battelle after an extended trip to the Far East. The motifs and iconography of the various southeast Asian cultures all had their influences in inspiring the designs that began to emerge from his new workshop. Since that time, a distinctive melding of the clean simple lines of classic European design combined with patterns of fine Eastern handwork and ornamentation has developed into the designs that comprise the complementary lines of Bask and Steven Battelle.

Blue Bus Studio
Durham, North Carolina

Blue Bus Studio artist Tim Garvin is MFA (Master in Fine Arts) trained and has been working in ceramics and metal for over 35 years. Tim looks at the world in detail, noting intricacies, contrasts, and rhythms of color to find and elaborate design. The extreme detail and intense color in his work results from the use of over 500 different colors of clays in a technique known as Millefiori, neriage, and nerikome. His pieces are both beautiful and durable.

Boma Jewelry
Renton, Washington

Boma began in 1981 bringing fashionable sterling silver jewelry with unique designs to the active, free-spirited women of Seattle. Boma is still dedicated to introducing jewelry that fits the lifestyle of today's woman. Each piece of Boma jewelry is carefully crafted to perfection in .925 sterling-silver and is guaranteed for life. Quality products, first-class customer service, and trendy designs have contributed to Boma's reputation for being the leader in the sterling silver jewelry industry.

Camenae Jewelry by Janice Lee Ripley
San Francisco, California

Janice Lee Ripley, owner and principal designer, reinterprets the 3,000 year history of jewelry in handcrafted sterling silver. Her design style, described as "modern primitive fusion," is largely inspired by motifs from ancient cultures. She uses elements from the natural world such as river rock, bone, wood, slate, sterling silver, copper, brass, pearls, shell, and semi-precious stones with colorful glass beads and ceramic. Camenae Jewelry uses centuries-old techniques of hand-dying, painting and carving bone, hand-stamping and antiquing metals, and applying 24k gold vermeil, that give her designs depth and texture. The jewelry is hand crafted, hand dyed and/or carved from natural elements, ensuring that each piece of Camenae Jewelry is truly unique.

Charles Albert Fine Sterling Silver Jewelry
Pompano Beach, Florida

Charles Albert has been designing unique Fine Sterling Silver Jewelry since 1990. From his base in Pompano Beach, Florida, he is renowned for his use of unusual gemstones, fossils, and minerals. His work has been featured in Simply the Best Magazine, an award-winning South Florida publication, including the recent July/August 2007 edition. The beauty of his creations is evidenced in some of our selections from his wonderful collection.

Darleen's Designs by Darleen Nixon
Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington

Darleen Nixon has been a glass artist since 1998. Living on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington, much of the inspiration for Darleen's Designs comes from the natural beauty of the ocean that surrounds her. Her studio offers a serene and creative environment tucked quietly away in the woods where deer, raccoons, and otters visit often. She continues to explore the endless possibilities of manipulating the molten glass into the intricate designs of her beads. Darleen has studied with some of the leading glass artists in the United States and is a member of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers.

Firefly
Oakland, California

Firefly jewelry is colorful and playful. The beads used in the jewelry are made from Firepolished Czech glass and the crystals used are the finest quality Swarovski crystals from Austria. All jewelry is handmade and the resulting pieces are visually stunning. Available colors range from deep red garnet, olivines, and smokey topaz to bright blues, tangerine, multicolors, and many more.

Hum Designs
University Place, Washington

Artist Shannon Victoria Stewart established the Hum Designs line several years ago after being unable to find "the perfect" jewelry for her wedding. She began creating designs that incorporated freshwater pearls, quartz crystals, and sterling silver that continue to infuse her line today. Each piece of jewelry is carefully crafted from quality materials and inspired by the artist's love of color and appreciation of the classic designs of vintage jewelry.

Joanna Craft
Costa Mesa, California

Joanna Craft is a California jewelry artist who creates original, eclectic, colorful jewelry in sterling silver and resin. Each piece is created by stamping and texturing the silver and soldering bezel frames to the pieces to contain handmade paper, colorful designs and Chinese characters encased in clear resin. The simplicity of the forms allows the colors and designs to be the focal point.

Jody Coyote
Eugene, Oregon

The Jody Coyote story began in Eugene, Oregon during the 1970’s when a local artisan started selling handcrafted earrings at fairs throughout the Pacific Northwest. From this humble beginning, Jody Coyote expanded significantly over the years. Today, Jody Coyote embraces a legacy of high quality one-of-a-kind craftsmanship and unique, yet timeless, designs.

Joseph Brinton
Portland, Oregon

Joseph Brinton is a jewelry artist who lives in Portland, Oregon where his jewelry is designed and made. His earrings are made with various and often combined metals including brass, nickel-silver, copper, and aluminum. The earwires are either 14kt gold-filled or sterling silver. Joseph uses various techniques to embellish and treat the surfaces of his jewelry including the use of air-brushed organic enamels, texture-rolling, bead-blasting, and hammering. Every part of the earrings is then coated with a tarnish-resistant clear coat in order to maintain their new appearance.

Kimberly Beaty
Seattle, Washington

Kimberly Beaty has been obsessed with working with hot glass for many years. She adores the color possibilities and sees flameworking (or lampworking) as one of transformation on the physical level and a metaphorical level. In its static form, the glass is in a pencil-shaped, rigid form that can break easily. When it undergoes the extreme heat of the torch, it becomes almost liquid. It changes color. It is in danger of dropping off the steel mandrel it is wound onto, due to gravity. Chaos, instead of transformation, could happen. Fire can transform, but it can also destroy. In the hands of an experienced flameworker, though, the glass is slowly coaxed into a new shape, one that has beauty and a new essence.

Kit Heath
Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom

Kit Heath is one of the UK's leading designer and suppliers of sterling silver jewelry. Founded by the ambitious young Kit Heath and sustained by a passion for design which has spanned more than 20 years, Kit Heath jewelry is created in the spirit of a family business. The result is timeless, beautiful sterling silver jewelry with universal appeal. Kit Heath Ltd, to this day remains a business owned and loved by the Heath family. Kit and his sister Katie remain totally involved and committed to bringing you the best of Kit Heath. Portland Mercantile Company is an independent retailer of Kit Heath jewelry.

Laughing Girl Arts
Seattle, Washington

The images used on these bamboo pendants are from 18th Century Japanese woodcuts and are then bordered top and bottom with patterns from chiyogami paper. The completed images are ink-transferred onto the central bamboo tile. Tube beads, hand-rolled from metallic paper, are added to the top and bottom. A little bead dangle is added for movement and each piece is wired with complementary colored wire. Handsigned by the artist on the natural bamboo back.

Laurel Burch
San Francisco, California

At the age of 14, Laurel Burch left her tumultuous home life in Southern California with nothing more than a paper bag of clothing and the rare bone disease osteopetrosis, that she was born with. Cooking, cleaning, and babysitting for her room and board, she embarked on a search for some stable ground to support her fragile body. With no job, no money, and no dreams, Laurel Burch reached the Golden Gate of San Francisco.

Laurel’s search for connectedness was evidenced in the jewelry she began to make for herself and wear – old coins, bones, and beads arranged into earrings and necklaces. Wearing them gave her a sense of belonging, if only to an exotic world of her own making. Fascinated by her adornments, people on the street began to ask her where she got them. Her creations became bridges to friendships and patrons. Through trading, selling, and giving them away, these artifacts found their way into the lives of people all across the country, and the phenomenon of collecting Laurel Burch began.

Laurel passed away on September 13, 2007 due to complications from the bone disease, osteopetrosis. She will be greatly missed, but her spirit will continue to brighten our world through her jewelry and other creations.

Magma - Handcrafted Glass Jewelry by Blake Van Roekel
Portland, Oregon

"Made in Portland. Inspired by Life. Worn Everywhere."

Magma is a distinctive line of lampworked glass jewelry designed by Blake Van Roekel. Each bead is unique, reflecting the natural flow of glass...hence magma. Blake makes her jewelry at her Portland, Oregon studio where she also fuses metalsmithing techniques with her glass pieces to result in compelling, colorful, and organic shapes. Blake endeavors to infuse her colorful beads with the intangible qualities of beauty, vitality, and passion in the hope of igniting these qualities in the wearer.

Marjorie Baer
South San Francisco, California

As a jewelry designer, Marjorie Baer is always doing new and interesting things. Marjorie's career began on the steps of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in the late 60's. It was there that the recent Berkeley grad displayed her first group of hand-crafted necklaces, bracelets and earrings-the pioneering pieces that would lay the groundwork for 18+ years of collections. Although her style has evolved with the changing times, it's always maintained its original design concept: each piece of jewelry is unique.

Mary Hurst - Celtic Nua and Couture Jewelry
Portland, Oregon

Born and raised in County Tipperary, Ireland, Celtic art and its influences are an integral part of Mary’s life and art. As she designs her jewelry, certain stones in combination remind her of Irish hills or of wildflowers growing by the side of the road. She lets the gemstones and beads speak to her as she follows her instinct as to technique and color combinations.

Singerman & Post
Canaan, New York

Leni Singerman and Terry Post design and hand craft a collection of colorful, lightweight art jewelry in the Berkshire foothills of New York. Their jewelry is made by laminating very thin layers of different types of plastic materials (films, Mylar, vinyl) together. The top layer is a film photo transfer of the design, watercolor, pastel, collage, or photograph. Individual pieces are hand cut, beaded, and twisted to form sculptural shapes that are very lightweight and comfortable to wear.

Sorella Creations--Unique Jewelry Design Featuring Hand-Blown Murano Glass
Portland, Oregon

Sorella is the Italian word for sister, and Sorella Creations is a creative collaboration between two sisters--Beverly Bauer and Susan Killoran. They share in the design of their glass jewelry, and every piece reflects their unique, creative expression. The beads are hand blown over an open flame in Murano or Venice, Italy. The foiled glass beads are made using .925 sterling silver or 24kt white gold foil submerged beneath the famous transparent colors of Moretti glass.

Vessel International, Inc.
Smithsburg, Maryland

Vessel International products are expressive, handcrafted jewelry from Poland featuring genuine gem-quality Baltic amber. With many unique one-of-a-kind pieces, we are pleased to be working with one of the International Amber Association's members. As a member of the International Amber Association, Vessel International is required to uphold the highest standards in the amber industry. It guarantees that all of its amber products are solely of Baltic amber and that its gemstones are set in precious metals and their alloys. Each purchase from our web store includes a certificate of authenticity.

Volare Jewelry
Princeton, New Jersey

Ottoman Silver Plated Pewter Jewelry made in Turkey. Designs and selections represent the intricacies of the Ottoman spirit and finesse of European couture adorned with an historic and artistic feeling. Nickel and lead free. Very lightweight for the size of the pieces.

World Traveler Jewelry
Seattle, Washington

The World Traveler Jewelry Collection consists of beautiful chunky beaded jewelry. Collectible beaded jewelry made with products ranging from carved cinnabar pendants to rare carved bone pendants, as well as scarab bracelets and stretch bracelets made with Chinese antiquities such as Quan Yin and Buddha pendants.

Zealandia Designs
Boise, Idaho

Jenny Byrne, Zealandia's creator, was born in New Zealand and has woven her initial love of the natural materials found on the beaches and rivers of the world and a fascination with spiritual and mythological art into an unusual line of jewelry. Zealandia Designs uses all natural materials, combining several elements such as silver, gold, fossilized ivory, semi-precious stones, ammonites, orthoceras, and an assortment of vibrantly colored mother of pearl. The shells and fossils are like human fingerprints, in that no two pieces are the same. Paua shell varies in color from pink and gold to green and blue. Each ammonite is unique. Fossilized walrus tusk can span the neutral tones from creamy white to honey, reddish brown to black, depending on the length of time it was in the ground and the minerals it was in contact with. This ancient ivory is anywhere from 500 to 3,000 years old. It is legally obtained from native owned land, having been excavated by Eskimo families from old village sites on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.

Neckwear for Men

Boxelder, Inc.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Boxelder has offered fine neckwear from 100% silk since 1989. The designs for their ties have been inspired by well known artists and architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Eadweard Muybridge, Gustav Klimt, M.C. Escher, Santiago Calatrava, and more. Their collection also includes ties featuring designs reproduced from African Art and Tribal Art of the Pacific Northwest.

Josh Bach
New York, New York

Handsome and distinctive silk ties designed as a pleasant departure from the predictable and the everyday. Each tie is created to catch your eye, make you smile, or evoke a fond memory. It is this truly unique combination of circumstances that makes Josh Bach's neckwear uncommon by design. Manufactured in the heart of New York City, right at the South Street Seaport.

Scarves and Mufflers

Umbrellas

ShedRain
Portland, Oregon

ShedRain is an Oregon company doing business worldwide. Founded in 1947, ShedRain has earned and maintained a reputation for quality, service, styling and integrity. When The Weather Channel needed an umbrella company for its store, it chose ShedRain. ShedRain is the only umbrella company chosen to carry The Weather Channel trademark. We have personally been using ShedRain umbrellas for years and have found them to be the best made available. The Gel-filled handled umbrellas conform to your hand and reduce hand fatigue and the WindPro Mini holds up very well in strong winds. All include a Lifetime Warranty from ShedRain.

Watches

Pedre Watch Company
New York, New York

Still under family ownership, Pedre has been a leader in the fashion watch industry for over 60 years. Pedre's watch collection is fun, chic, affordable, and unique. Pedre combines style and function to create a large variety of watches for people with a dynamic lifestyle and love of fashion.

TOKYObay
San Francisco, California

Fun and ultimately hip, TOKYObay designs watches, clocks, handbags, and accessories which are high on fashion and function and priced to meet any budget. Their watches and timepieces combine the classic influences of Retro styling from the 1950s with the sleek minimal Modern sensibilities of today.