Hello and welcome! My name is Julia Pappas. As the designer behind the brand, I aim to express concepts dear to every contemplative person through the warmth of the craft and the coolness of the material.
Like a child plays with sand, I have been playing around with glass seed beads for years. As a little girl, I became intrigued by a daisy-chain beaded necklace and tried to figure out how it was made. Though my attempts led to a ripped thread and a mess of spilled beads, those loose beads, all of a sudden, looked like a world of possibilities. Now, many years later, my needle travels through the bead and back, connecting and securing tiny components together, one at a time.
There is a belief out there that beadwork is too fancy, not modern enough, and not for everyday wear. What a misconception! I focus on making contemporary beaded jewelry that is in pace with our times. Rather than serving as an accessory to an elaborate outfit, PORTOMEA jewelry is about serving you and representing your values, no matter the day of the week. Being you is a special occasion in and of itself, worth commemorating every day. I hope PORTOMEA can help express who you are and become an extension to life itself, a way to celebrate your humanity. Simplicity is at the core of the brand’s aesthetic, and I would rather see us reflecting on how we want to show up in the world, rather than fussing over what to wear.
My minimalist tendencies in design help me achieve just that. Working with the best quality seed beads allows me to attain precision in my work and feeds my aesthetic need for perfectly aligned components. I am fascinated with how simple shapes of individual beads can come together into a wonderful creation, and I spend many fulfilling hours weaving these teeny-weeny bits into a wearable design. There is some math, some structure, to the way the final look is achieved and, although I strive for visual balance in my designs, this does not always mean symmetry (though that appeals to me as well). I am just as in love with pattern as I am with structure and form, and each collection may focus on exploring one of these aspects in greater detail over the others.
As I create, I am continuously aware of how the constraints of our time play against the unlimited possibilities of beads. I try to capture as many of these as I can. My hope is to bring the wearers closer to their own understanding of life’s essence and find meaning and joy in the everyday.
