About the Artist

Who is Rachel Ma’ii?

In 2017 Rachel moved from San Diego to Long Beach California in search of two things: love and experience in the wholesale gem industry while she finished her gemologist education. What she didn’t bank on was becoming a metalsmith and learning the jewelry manufacture process. Over the course of the next six years, she built a small company, Fauna Metals and sold her craft online before running up the coast of California to Pismo Beach to participate at Art in the Park for a season. When she returned back to Long Beach, she was struck by a car, crossing the street on her bicycle and sustained a spinal fracture. After six months of recovery she moved to Portland Oregon and over the next two years she sustained chemical poisoning in an unsafe work environment and then a concussion that went sideways. The end result? Joining the unhoused because rental assistance that was granted before her eviction trial came with a clerical error of no dollar amount or time frame. 

Throughout these unseemly circumstances, one thing has provided Rachel with relief: ART. Since childhood, abstract art has been a means to process emotion. Something she fondly calls “Rainbow vomit”.  As a child one of her mother’s boyfriends gave her a Spirograph set for her birthday. There’s just something so soothing about wild geometric shapes in vivid color, hand drawn with stencils or digitally. These are her methods for creating the designs for garments and bikinis.

And while Portland Bikini was birthed in the wake of tragedy, it stands as a shining example. A glimmer of hope for two things in Rachel’s life: the curative properties of both exercise and the warm south swell of mid summer in the Pacific that she remembers so well from body surfing in La Jolla, Encinitas and Sunset Beach. These two pillars of hope guide her forward, returning to the water and continuing to build the vessel that houses her soul motivate her every single day. 

Sustainability is a key driving force as well. When deciding to pursue building a lifestyle brand, Rachel chose only recycled garment blanks. Additionally print on demand keeps operating costs to a minimum but also provides a uniqueness to customers that their order is made specifically for them. This makes PB a front runner in the slow fashion movement. Someone can walk down the beach or pull up poolside in a Portland Bikini and know they are wearing a limited edition fashion. 

Body positivity and size inclusiveness is also very close to Rachel’s heart. She knows the struggles of size, having at one point in her life tipped the scales at 245 lbs. She sits at 162 now, she knows it’s a winding road to get there. That’s why PB is for EVERY body, whether petite or thicc, we have a bikini for that peach! And athleisure too!