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Page 4
September 28, 2011
Free Handing the Henna Business
Tattoo and gift
shop owner
polishes a career
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
Once inside Free Hand Mehndi,
a henna tattoo and gift shop located
off the quiet street of Leavitt Av­
enue in the St. Johns district of
north Portland, cloaked in a black
berka, owner and artist Camille
Mason, 27, locates a chair for me to
sit and uncovers another hidden
treasure beneath a pile of scarves
for herself.
Within the blue-gray walls of her
606 square-foot, boutique-sized
shop, there are over a half-dozen
petite tables decorated with locally-
made creations -marble-necklaces,
beaded earrings, sparkling colored
bracelets, laced scarves, m ini-
wooden paintings, and numerous
other trinkets - but a slight empti­
ness reigns the room.
The store, opened in February
after M ason’s online business of
selling henna products boomed and
she decided to expand into an actual
location.
Nine years ago. Mason discov­
ered her love for henna at her first
henna party. At that time, she was
by
making over 200 videos of herself
offering tutorials, reviews, tips, and
tricks.
W hat started as a fledgling
website and hobby transformed into
a full-time online business, and she
named it, Free Hand Mehndi -free -
hand for her acquired style and
Mehndi, the Hindi word for henna.
Not two years later. Mason be­
gan looking in the St. Johns neigh­
borhood, where she had lived for
quite some time, finding a new home
base for Free Hand Mehndi. With all
the funding in place, she moved in
and set up shop.
However, after moving an on­
line business from her apartment.
Mason felt unsure about its future,
“I know what works on the Internet,
but that doesn’t always translate
for brick and mortar stores.”
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
On a typical day at Free Hand
Henna tattoo artist Camille Mason sits by the window o f her Free Hand Mehndi shop in the St.
Mehndi, Mason enters and cleans
Johns neighborhood o f north Portland. The store is a salon, gift-shop, and home base to her online
the store. Then she spends up to
website that offers henna body art supplies.
two hours with online upkeep­
planning lor a career in nursing, other artists, and thus fell naturally want to be a nurse,” and in 2007, she
checking hundreds of e-mails, re­
taking pre-requisites part-time at into the art of tattooing henna. Dif­ p ursued henna p ro fessio n ally .
sponding to customers, and updat­
Portland Community College, work­ ferent from any material she had While she tattooed on holidays for
ing all her social media outlets—
ing for Comcast, and maintaining a worked with, she said, “Body art tips, her website morphed into an
YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
website, where she bought imported really fascinated me,” she said, “It’s online business, selling henna body
“I like to keep in contact with my
items from India and sold them temporary and something you can art supplies.
customers,” she says. After run­
online.
show outwardly.”
A year later, her online business ning for morning coffee, Mason
A Portland native. Mason grew
Becoming more enthused as she expanded with more than 40 prod­ opens the store. Despite keeping
up painting, drawing, and sculpting practiced on friends and acquain­ ucts and on Youtube a henna-en­
busy throughout the day -p ac k ag ­
with an artist mother in a family of tances, Mason realized, “I don’t thused following kept Mason busy
ing internet orders, booking ap­
pointments, filming and editing new
YouTube videos, Mason only tat­
toos about 15 percent of henna cli­
ents at the shop. More often, her
appointments are booked outside
of the store at client’s homes or
various other venues.
Mason realized she wasn’t mak­
ing the best use of her retail space,
“I’m not a business major,” she said.
For her, the hardest thing about
Whether you're living in a
opening a store has been learning
farmhouse, a bungalow or an
how to embrace mistakes and ask­
ing for help in the form of advice
apartment, your path to reducing your
from established businesses.
energy costs is easier than ever at
After seeking advice from local
business counselors like Mercy
energytrust.org/free. Get started with
Corps and SCORE, Mason decided
to collaborate with a friend special­
an Energy Saver Kit, a Home Energy
izing in hair and make-up, who ca­
Review or Fridge Recycling.
ters largely to Muslim women, and
expand the use of her store.
Under the same store name, the
back half will be re-modeled as a
salon and the front half will remain
This is new. This is now. This is free.
a gift shop, and while Mason con­
tinues to work out of the store to
Log onto energytrust.org/free or call
tattoo, she “hopes the business will
1.866.368.7878,
become stable.”
Nonetheless, for Mason, the art
of henna will always be a constant
Serving custom ers of Portland General Electric
despite the unpredictable nature of
the business world.
Pacific Power, N W N atural and
Mason specializes in 5 different
Cascade N atural Gas.
regional styles, Indian, Arabic,
Moroccan, Gulf or Khaalejee, and
Indo-Arabic fusion. The designs
vary from the dense and delicate,
lace-like florals, peacocks, and
paisleys of India to the geometric
FREE YOUR HOME
EnergyTrust
of Oregon
continued ’W ' on page 7