Merry Coor does not think of herself as an artist or designer. Rather, she sees herself as a supplier of goods. In her case, she is a supplier of beautiful beads. As the owner of Talisman Beads in Old Town Eureka, it is a label she has been content with for some three decades and counting.
Ever since childhood, Coor has had a deep interest in beads. She laughs when she says that her interest did not necessarily extend to working with beads, just having them. She originally moved to Humboldt County from Mountain View to attend College of the Redwoods. However, when school didn’t work out for her, she needed to find another path and her love of sparkly things helped guide the way.
“I wanted to stay [in Humboldt], so I made my own job. I’m a college dropout. I’m a really lousy secretary. I didn’t have any marketable skills. I decided, ‘I want to own a store.’ And I really like beads,” said Coor. In July of 1993, Coor opened Talisman Beads, a glittering treasure chest of a shop, packed with baubles in flat drawers and sparkling strands on the walls.
Having grown up traveling and living overseas, Coor also wanted to create a job in which she could continue to travel. As she stepped into her vision, she realized beads are everywhere. It was a win-win. With Talisman Beads, she gets to write off her travel adventures for business research and development, explore beads produced all over the world and bring home unique creations for Humboldt bead workers.
“I’ve been to a lot of places! The Czech Republic is renowned for beads and it is always fun to go there,” said Coor. “You can see the whole entire process of them making the glass rods and pressing them and coating them, and stringing them — all the steps it takes. Wherever I travel, I go to bead districts. I just walk around and check out the stores for interesting beads.”
When Coor first started Talisman, she began sourcing beads at trade shows. Over time, she found places in the world that are unique and interesting for bead collectors. One of her first international sourcing trips was to Bali. There she found beautiful silver beads along with glass ones. She’s since filled her shop with not just beads, but also hanging Balinese wooden sculpture art and other trinkets that create a world of cozy beauty in the store. Her work travels have also taken her to Thailand, India and Egypt, among other locales, in search of beads. The spoils of her travels set Talisman apart from other suppliers.
In the years Talisman has been open, Coor has witnessed a lot of flux in her industry. The rise of Etsy changed how people purchased beads and beadwork, as clientele could go online and buy almost anything they wanted. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic altered the customer base once again, pushing even more people online. And she suspects that the tariffs currently being argued for imported goods will shift her business even more. With so many possibilities to shop online, Coor works hard to set Talisman apart with special items nobody else carries. She purchases small runs of limited quantity beads and has many beads custom made, giving her a specific niche in the bead world.
“It’s a gamble,” said Coor. “You have to buy a whole lot of beads, like 10,000 of one bead. They take a long time to get made and maybe the color is off, or the finish is off, or maybe you are stuck with them for a long time, or they sell so fast that you try to order more but because they are custom, the next order looks a little different and nobody likes them. It really is a gamble.”
So far, the gamble has paid off. As part of the larger bead business world, she sees that bead stores are dying, that beading is in some ways a dying art in many places. But in Humboldt County and for Talisman, this is not the case.
“We are really lucky up here in Humboldt. There are four thriving bead stores in our county. I’m practically the youngest one,” said Coor. “We all have sort of a different twist. Even though we are small, Humboldt is very supportive of the small business and the local businesses. When you buy beads, you want to be able to touch them and feel them and see them outside in the sun and see what goes with what. It’s hard to do that online. And here we can give our customers that.”
Particularly since COVID-19, Coor has had an exceptionally strong local customer base, with a lot of local Native artists turning to her shop for specialized beads used in regalia and other work. She carries over 100 colors of a specific size 12 triangle bead, which is often used in Native beading. Her customers come in to show her beaded sashes or tassels they’ve created for graduation ceremonies, among other delicate handworks they produce. Seeing the beautiful art created with beads she has specially sourced and knowing that she found what they needed for their pieces is one of the highlights of her job.
“I really like to source and buy beads. I know how to bead. I can teach people how to work with beads. But really, I just love buying and looking at the beads,” said Coor. “I see a lot of beautiful beaded work and think, ‘My god that’s so much work!’ I source all the things and get what artists want and I admire their art, and that’s what I am here for.”
This article appears in Humboldt Insider Spring / Summer 2025.