Excelsior Business Sets Its Sights On the World

Pamela Ree wants customers to feel like they are walking into an art gallery when they enter her store Omorphia in Excelsior.

Omorphia features jewelry and ecclectic items for the home such as Moroccan lanterns, hanging votive candles and Greek trinkets. The jewelry and items come from various places in the world, like Spain, Greece, and Morocco. A Greek aesthetic pervades the store, something Ree says she did purposely.

“I just love all the colors of the Mediterranean, the blues and the bright yellows,” Ree said.

She used her creativity to develop some of the display items in her store. For example, an old wooden picture frame, painted and turned into a table, displays Bora jewelry.

“I like things with stories and things from all around the world,” Ree said.

Ree shared a story about Bora. He came to the United States from Turkey and now makes jewelry at his studio in New York.

“When he came to the United States, he was a struggling musician,” she said. “So he decided to go to Soho and sell [jewelry] on the street. He has grown from there and gotten quite big.”

Another featured designer at her store is Konstantino. She is friends with him and his wife and sold his jewelry before it made it to department stores like Neiman-Marcus and Bloomingdales. She credits his wife with naming her store Omorphia, which means “beyond beautiful” in Greek.

Ree has been in retail since age 16. For 20 years, she owned convenience stores in office buildings, starting with one store and building to seven stores.

“I found that I really worked hard making mine different than everybody else’s even though it was pretty generic—you know pop and candy and magazines," Ree said. "But I really liked focusing on the gifts, and I really loved creative, fun displays.”

She pointed to her travels to other countries as influential to her life and interests. Eventually she decided that she needed a change from the convenience stores. That thought evolved into the store that she owns today.

“I just try to find unusual things,” Ree said about the items and jewelry she carries. "When people come in here they know they can buy something that they’re not going to see everyone wearing."

Other designers at her store include local designers, such as Robyne Robinson of , who was just one of the designers that were in Excelsior for a fundraiser last Thursday. Photographer Juan Palomo, whose photographs come from all over the world, and artist Andrew Hickok were also be at the event. The artists were all in town to benefit the Orphan Bracelet Campaign, a nonprofit organization which helps orphaned children and women with HIV/AIDS who live in South Africa.

The bracelets, made by the women, will be sold for $15, of which $10 will be donated to the Orphan Bracelet Campaign. The artists at the event will donate a portion of their evening’s sales to the organization as well.  

“I think it’s great what they’ve done to help people who’ve had a struggle with their life,” Ree said about the nonprofit.

On Nov. 1, Omorphia will celebrate its four-year anniversary, and Ree hopes to remain in Excelsior for many years afterwards.