Hi and welcome! So happy you are here. My name is Mel and I want to tell you a little bit about Thriae (pronounced thee-eye).

The creative side of my brain has been itching to start a new venture for a while now. I am a photographer and had a portrait studio as a side business for a while, but the demands of my young family and full time job did not allow me to keep up with it as much as I wanted to. I shuttered that business in 2018 and have been missing business ownership ever since. 

So I turned to retail. I am half-American, half-Turkish and grew up in Izmir, Turkey.  I always felt caught between two worlds. This was before the world became so open - here is where I get into the "back in my day" moment, but until high school, we had a grand total of four TV channels (and one was from Greece), no internet, no "foreign" items in stores, and so on. We were fully immersed in Turkish culture and I loved it. However, when we visited family in the US, I would always marvel at how different it was and wish the comforts of America were available in Turkey. As I got older, and the world opened up, my narrative morphed into wanting to bring more of Turkey into to the US. One of my favorite things from Turkey is their range of beautiful textiles, made from Turkish cotton - particularly the famous peshtemal towels of the Hammams.  

Peshtemals were traditionally of a single, striped design, and would start off a bit scratchy but then soften with use. They were quick to dry, sand-repellant, super absorbent and versatile in their use. In recent years, however, manufacturers have begun to incorporate modern designs and new looming methods that yield soft, gorgeous textiles from day 1 that work well for many uses and complement any decor. They still have all these amazing features and fit seamlessly into our modern lifestyle. This was the perfect  project for me to take on.

The idea for Thriae came to me in a dream, and I have been obsessed ever since. I found a manufacturer who pays fair wages, has happy employees, a large contingent of women on staff, and that is Oeko-Tex certified. They work diligently with me to bring my designs to life and offer so much support and advice - after all, this is their area of expertise. I'm so happy to work with a company whose values I can stand behind. 

Part of Thriae's mission is also to give back, and we proudly support The Bee Conservancy. Without our busy, buzzy friends, cotton would not exist, so a portion of our profits are donated annually on Giving Tuesday to this wonderful organization to aid in their efforts to combat colony collapse and other issues facing our friends.

Read a bit more about Thriae in our About Us section. 

Thanks for joining me here and for your support!