Our Story
Funny Because It’s True
Pithitude began in 2010 during one of the hardest periods of founder Tamara Bissell’s life.
In the middle of a period of deep personal grief, Tamara started drawing funny illustrations as a way to process what she was going through. Even when life was painful, she kept noticing the absurdity in it. Drawing it made her laugh. Sharing it made other people laugh, too.
Those illustrations became mini pin-back buttons that Tamara began selling on Etsy from her home in Spokane, Washington. That small experiment grew into Pithitude, short for “Pithy Attitude,” and eventually into a collection of original illustrated apparel, home, and gift products built around a simple idea:
Laughter heals, and laughing together connects.
The very first product I sold online.
More early Etsy buttons & magnets
An outdoor event on the Oregon Coast.
A Little Snark. A Lot of Recognition.
Pithitude humor works because there’s truth underneath the joke.
It’s the mug that makes you think, “That is so me.” The gift you immediately know belongs to your sister, best friend, coworker, or mother. The design that makes two people laugh because they both know exactly what it means.
That moment of recognition is the point.
Oktoberfest on the boardwalk, Port of Brookings-Harbor
The Pirates of the Pacific Festival on the boardwalk of Port of Brookings-Harbor
Every Pithitude design starts with Tamara’s original artwork and is brought to life in our Oregon studio. Producing in-house lets us try new ideas, create in small batches, and offer customization, keeping Pithitude personal, flexible, and a little less predictable than mass-produced giftware.
Finding a Home on the Oregon Coast
What started at home in Spokane grew through Etsy, Amazon Handmade, art shows, markets, and eventually wholesale. In 2017, Tamara moved Pithitude to the southern Oregon Coast.
Today, Pithitude operates a retail showroom and print studio at the Port of Brookings-Harbor, where visitors can shop, laugh, watch ideas become products, and have select items customized.
In the shop in 2020
Tamara fixing the printer.
Pithitude products are also carried by more than 150 independent retailers, including gift shops, bookstores, coffee shops, galleries, and specialty stores.
Through all that growth, the idea behind the business has stayed consistent: create original products that help people recognize themselves and the people they love, laugh about the ridiculous parts of being human, and share that laugh with somebody else.
Grand opening day of the shop: October 14, 2019, with Judy and Mavis, my first customers.
Because sometimes the best gift isn't the thing itself.
It's the moment someone opens it, looks at you, and says, “You know me way too well.”
The front of Pithitude's retail store on the Port of Brookings-Harbor.
