Blue Atlas Marketplace x Newport Nowhere - A Collaboration Elevating Gifting in Newport Beach.
In this conversation, we welcome Liz Canady & Susan Bush – the powerhouse gifting duo and founders of Blue Atlas Marketplace on Balboa Island in Newport Beach, CA.
Greta Harrison – designer, creative visionary, and founder of Newport Nowhere, the West Coast-inspired design studio known for its signature toile patterns and coastal artistry.
Together, these local entrepreneurs share the story behind their new collaboration—a thoughtfully designed collection of stationery, candles, entertaining pieces, dog accessories, and curated gifts now available at Blue Atlas Marketplace. Each item celebrates Newport Beach’s iconic landmarks, coastal lifestyle, and the deep sense of place that inspires both brands.
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Welcome to Duffy Chats. Today we're welcoming aboard Liz and Susan, the powerhouse gifting duo behind Blue Atlas Marketplace on Balboa Island, and Greta Harrison, the designer and creative force behind Newport Nowhere. These three women have come together for a stunning new collaboration that beautifully blends Blue Atlas's story-driven approach to gifting with Newport Nowhere's Newport Beach inspired design aesthetic. Their new collection captures the very spirit of our community. Welcome aboard, ladies.
Happy holidays, everyone. Thanks for being here today. So, we first we want to dive into Blue Atlas Marketplace. Um, but first, you have a fun backstory. If you could talk to us about that.
Susan: We do. We do. Liz and I are cousins by marriage. Our husband's our first cousins, so we have literally grown up together. Um, we've known each other for almost 40 years.
Liz: Gosh, we're not that long.
Susan: I know, right? Gosh. But we would always see each other at family gatherings. Our kids are the same age and our kids are extremely close. Uh three of them live in the city together. Um one is down here. But it's been a fun ride. And we would always talk to each other at our family gatherings about admiring each other's uh what we did for a living and our careers and our goals. And we always said that we would go into business together sometime. And so we'd talk about it and then we'd see each other at Thanksgiving and at Easter and Christmas. And we keep coming back to one day when our kids are out of college, we're going to start a business. And so, fast forward to 2019. That's when it happened.
Susan: We um you can tell this part of the story.
Liz: Well, it was super fun. We were up in Marin and Susan's oldest son was living with us after college. He had just gotten a new job and so he was staying with us up north and Susan and I were taking a walk along the beach in Stinson Beach, beautiful local beach and just talking about, you know, different things that we could do because the idea of art of gifting was something that we loved and we came across some really cool treasures and sea glass and we just started thinking about, wow, what if we were to come up with some really unique gifts and then our afternoon and day went to Napa Valley and started looking at some really cool boutiques and really sat down and started saying, "You know what? We think we got it and we're going to come up with a a business together."
And our backgrounds are different but the same. I was always in merchandising and design and Liz was in marketing and PR with Condé Nast and Martha Stewart which is such a gifting company. I was with St. John Knits for almost 30 years with apparel designing products for them. And so it was just kind of fun how when we would talk, our strengths and our weaknesses would kind of come out.
Susan: We're like, weaknesses, we have none. We have none. We're perfect.
Liz: But it was just really, really fun to see the synergy and kind of how we meshed and how we literally could picture ourselves in this business. Not that our family did.
Susan: They weren't on board at first, you know, because uh people like to say we're maybe an A personality, both of us. Not sure where they got that.
Liz: I don't know. But um I think they had bets that we would only last what 6 months.
Susan: Yeah. And now it's 5 and a half years later and it's thriving and we just we love it. We love it.
And you were living down here though. I was trying to piece that cuz you said Marin.
Liz: I was up in Marin and after I mean we launched in April of 2020. So imagine that's when the world was flipped upside down and the idea of people wanting to give gifts but not knowing where they could go was so prevalent for us. So what started as us creating corporate gifts quickly went to personal gifts. People were missing Mother's Day graduations and family gatherings. So I was up north um and Susan was down here and after about a year we were both like ah we're on to something because the corporate um business started growing and we said we should probably be in the same place. And so my husband and I were like oh we'll move to Newport Beach.
Susan: Yeah.
Liz: So, that's what we did. And then it wasn't until a year after that, we have um a warehouse uh up off of 17th that we thought, you know what, we should have a storefront.
Susan: We were starting to do so many local people's, you know, hostess gifts, corporate gifts, and we wanted kind of a showroom office. And so, we were so thrilled to find spot on Balboa Island, which we love.
Liz: Liz had her showroom in her garage up in Marin. I had a showroom down here in my garage on the island and literally we would have people come by at all hours of the day and shop. And so it was like, "Okay."
Susan: Yeah.
Liz: It's time. Yeah.
Susan: So we opened um Balboa Island three almost three and a half years ago in our first location and then we just moved to the new location about four months ago.
Liz: Darling, which you love. We love the party patio.
Susan: Yes, exactly.
Liz: The party patio. And you know, a big part of our business is really just giving back to the community and just doing some lovely charity events and doing helping other entrepreneurs with be it a book signing, be it a charity event that we give back to the local charity. So, we try to schedule those at least once a month. So, or if someone needs a place to gather, we are always we welcome anyone to come and use the patio. It's it's pretty fun.
Susan: Yeah.
The hostess is what the most—
Yes. And I have a question. Was there a specific event or a specific product when you guys were like, "Ah, we're on to something like it was an aha moment for you guys." Um, and and then second part to that is, do you feel like you were able to fill the void in the gifting space here? Cuz prior to you guys, we didn't really have anything like you guys here anymore.
Susan: Yeah.
Liz: You know what? As far as the gifts for us, I mean, it's funny because we talk about that. People ask us all the time, what's the gift that the go-to gift that we should give? And for us, it always goes back to everything is custom, everything is personal. So, we kind of, you know, go back with the question of, well, it depends on who is your recipient. Who are you looking out for? Is it somebody that just had a brand new baby and you want to do something special for them? Or is it a client you don't know them that well? So as far as that, the answer is always like something really special, unique, which is what we really have thrived to to to create is that—
Susan: Plus it's the little details like the these little details like all the name tags, the extra little things.
Liz: We love we love a good packaging. I mean—
Susan: And we love to personalize even the packaging. Even if the gift isn't personalized, we love to do it on the package so that people, it's just that extra little thoughtfulness that people don't really appreciate until you get it and you're like, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much."
We're curious how you came up with the name Blue Atlas Market. Did you get that a lot? Probably.
Susan: We do. We do. And it's so funny. I was going through my notes the other day and I saw all the names that we had gone through.
But um what we really did, Liz and I have always loved blue. Our homes are blue. We we wear navy. We just It's been a color that has been the staple in our wardrobe and our life for many forever. And it's the sky. It's the ocean. You know, so it was very reminiscent and appropriate for where we were going to open our business. And also we searched the world for all of our gifts. So we, you know, Atlas is all over the world. So it was Blue Atlas Marketplace. And then the marketplace idea was the concept that we were able to support and represent lots of different companies from all over and find, you know, really unique place and pieces for them. So that's where it all stemmed from. But it was a super fun process going trying to figure out—
Liz: Oh my gosh.
Susan: Oh yeah.
Liz: You know what?
Susan: That's a good point.
Liz: I know. It's so funny. Yeah. We just had a blast and no breakups, no actually no fights in the five and a half years.
Susan: We were some of the top contenders that didn't make obviously the list.
Liz: Um there a lot of them had blue and blue in different languages and then we're like we're coastal people. Yeah. So again, you know, I Susan had mentioned as far as our backgrounds, I was with, you know, worked for Martha Stewart for years and so we would I would spend a lot of time on the east coast and would be out in the Hamptons and and you know, you're just everything's coastal there and here being as far as Newport all the coastal ideas. We just wanted to stick with that.
And when going back to the as far as the art of gifting, my very first job at Condé Nast, I was in charge of all the gifts.
Susan: Wow.
Liz: So whether it was the publisher of Vanity Fair or the editor-in-chief of Vogue, uh I would be the one that was looking out for gifts for them. So I started at a really young age always trying to find unique and special things because certainly you couldn't give them or the designers for any of the magazines anything that you could just find anywhere. So, it was uh it was a very special time and it's just funny how it's all full circle and I was on I did all the gifts for weddings and now we do so many weddings.
I was going to say you have the you launched the bridal registry. You want to tell us a little bit about that?
Susan: Just to kind of go back go back to that. My first job was I grew up in Arizona and Sackowitz was a a department store. It was a high-end department store. I lied about my age to get the gift wrapping job at Sackowitz. So, I literally would learn how to gift wrap at I think I was 15 or 16 years old.
Liz: Yeah, I know. It's so funny.
Susan: But, um, what was I just asking? I don't know. It's gone.
Liz: Bridal registry.
Susan: Oh, bridal registry. Tell us about that.
Yeah. So, we do we were super excited about that because the idea of being able to find unique gifts. So, a lot of times there are the classic places that brides should do register and and should register, but then when they are really wanting to curate fun special things for their home, it's really fun that we've been able to find great pieces for them. And again, full circle because when I did bridal registry, bridal at um Condé Nast and then actually at Macy's Bullock's, all of their bridal promotions to now be able to still seeing the importance of when you're getting married, getting those special gifts. So, we've had a lot of fun with that.
Liz: And then I just I have two two brides that just reached out this weekend that we're going to help them with their welcome gifts and bachelorette gifts. And oh my gosh, I get so excited about that. It's so much fun.
Susan: We have, you know, so many brides as Liz was saying, you know, they're so traditional. There's, you know, the places that everyone's going to register, but they come in and they're like, "Oh my gosh, this is the one time that I can register for whatever I want." And so it's really fun to see them pick a beautiful hand-blown glass or a beautiful handmade cutting board from Connecticut with, you know, the cleats and all that kind of stuff, which is really fun.
And you do a huge corporate business, right?
Liz: Yes. Yes, we do.
Susan: We do. It's It's funny because our husbands laugh at us because we do so much corporate, but we don't really promote it. And the reason why is we love to be the gifting fairies, the gift gurus behind the scenes so that all of our corporate clients really shine themselves. So the idea that when we personalize it and when we customize it with all the different personalization and specialization that they get to really shine, which that's the most important thing is that they do.
So yes, but we do a lot whether it's uh a local realtor who we have so much fun doing all of their um housewarming gifts to we are working right now we have a major company on the east coast that after this we'll be heading out to do a check on over a thousand gifts that are going out this week. So and everything in between. It's it's super fun.
This is a busy time of year. Definitely you know and it's so funny because it's only December 1st and we're shutting down thinking that Oh, we're done. And people are like, I haven't even bought anything or put up my Christmas. So, we work on a little bit of a different timeline, but yeah. I mean, we do 10,000 gifts for one of our clients, and it's all custom. You know, it's not all with a smile on our face.
I've never not seen you two smiling, laughing.
Susan: You know what we do? It's funny. I mean, seriously, we always have said we la when we launched this business with our kids out of college, we felt like we were fresh out of college ourselves again. just really and no matter what happens during the day, we literally every day laugh our way through it, you know, and we start that day.
And then Greta, let's dive right into your story. So, you used to be a product designer and now you've gotten into being a pattern artist. Can you tell us a little bit about how that's played into um creating Newport?
Greta Harrison: Yeah, thanks so much. Um I have been working in the product design trade for over a decade in a variety of different industries from electrical vehicle infrastructure to some direct to consumer companies uh most recently at a venture capital firm where I was working on launching a lot of incubator-sized companies um hence a lot of kind of entrepreneurial experience there.
But I think what a lot of people don't realize with product design is even though the term design is in the title a lot of the work can be pretty technical and I was with engineering teams.
So I think I've always maintained a couple creative projects on the side um and around 2018 2019 is when I started getting interested in learning how to turn drawings and icons and illustrations that I had into seamless patterns. Um, which seems very easy and straightforward, but actually there's quite a bit of an art to it. And so that's how I kind of learned about it. I wouldn't say I was learning about it to make a career transition. It was just something I was doing on the side um outside of work. And yeah, I had no idea that it would turn into something that I would consider to be a business.
So tell us about the pattern that you created, the name of it and how you decided upon the icons that are represented.
Greta Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. So the Newporter print um is something that I started working on when my husband and I um when we got our house in Corona Del Mar and we were working on a renovation of it. I um I was looking for something very specific, a Newport Beach kind of themed toile-like pattern.
I've always really loved whimsical prints and my houses, I would always say, are kind of pattern drenched. I love wallpaper.
So, um, it was just a natural thing. We were working on a room and I was looking for a Newport Beach style toile, I guess. Um, and I couldn't find it. So, I ended up just creating my own.
Um, I would say though I started working on it and it did go through many, many iterations over the years and once I had perfected it, um, I remember showing it to my husband. He thought it was really fun and great and it was also like, well, what do I do with this? You know, I can make a wallpaper for our house, but I feel like I should use this for more.
Um, and so I did end up releasing a website that I sold the wallpaper and some of the textiles on and that eventually evolved into coming out with the children's pajamas and the baby rompers and then of course into my wonderful collaboration with Blue Atlas.
Wonderful. Can you speak to some of the icons that are on there for someone who's not familiar?
Greta Harrison: Yeah, of course. Um, so I mean first I'll just preface it that I was raised in a historic home by a history buff. So, I've always um really been, I think, a little bit more attuned than some to different architectural and also just scenic landmarks that might have a history.
Um, so we have the Newport Landing, which you can see over there, and I can actually see from my office at home. Um, I love, love, love the Balboa Island post office, so that had to be on there. I have surfers and palm trees which are just kind of iconic. Um I have a sailboat with Corona Del Mar Hills and some homes in the background. Um the Duffy boat.
The Duffy boat of course.
Greta Harrison: The Duffy boat of course.
Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Greta Harrison: Yes, the Duffy boat. Um the seals on the buoys, which you know if you lived in Newport, you visited them or you can hear them sometimes. Um, and uh, the auto ferry, of course.
Yeah. So, I think I named I think I named pretty much all of them.
So, tell us about how this exciting collaboration came about between Blue Atlas Marketplace and Newport Nowhere.
Liz: Oh, it was such a great day when Greta reached out and uh shared with us about her pajamas and asked if maybe we would be interested in having them at the store. And second, she came in with these just adorable pajamas. One, they're beautifully made. Her designs are amazing, as you know, and they're so well made. The quality is so great. We knew right away that yes, we knew we wanted them, but Susan and I have been waiting for somebody like Greta to come into our lives because for the last 5 years, we've wanted to create product.
And in order to create all the different types of products that we've been doing, you need to have that right design. And you just it just doesn't happen like that. And so the idea of Greta having it coming to us—she had no idea when she walked through the door.
Susan: She had no idea.
Liz: Yeah. All of a sudden we're like, "Well, yeah, we'll take your jammies, but how about let's do some collaborations." So, and I think she thought maybe we were just going to do a candle here and there and all of a sudden it's like these emails that had all of this information and it was it's been just so much fun from our side.
Susan: I know, right? Here, let's— It's Yeah.
Greta Harrison: No, it's been great. I um they were one of the first people I reached out to. I remember Liz responded late at night like and I was like, "Okay, well, I'll come in the next day." And of course, their storefront is just immaculate.
And um it ended up being um—we kicked it off. Liz and I are originally from the same kind of smaller town in in northern—
Liz: We went to the same high school.
Greta Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. And um so I remember we were taking selfies at the end of of that meeting and it ended up just being you know more than I ever could have imagined and it's been really fun.
It's a great story. Fantastic. So you guys brought some of the products here to share with us. Would you like to go through and um show our viewers? They're just absolutely beautiful and fun.
Susan: Yeah, absolutely. Well, first this is what started it all and this is the absolutely darling toile in the pajamas. It comes in the blue as well as the pink. And then Greta did a darling um holiday toile that has literally sold out. I think we've got—
This is it.
This is the toile. Yeah. So, some of the the products all started with Greta and this darling toile that she put on her pajamas. And as Liz was saying, the quality is amazing. It's pima cotton and in the uh onesies it's this beautiful bamboo. And it's just they have been absolutely spectacular in our stores.
And when she walked through, Liz and I had the vision for a few other products.
Liz: I do tell just a few. So we kind of started with the Duffy candle. It's iconic Newport Beach. It's just um and it's interesting because we have been looking to do a candle for 5 years. Never have agreed on a scent in our entire history.
Susan: That is one thing that we don't agree on.
Liz: So, we found this company and we found the scent and we agreed on it. We looked at each other and we're like, "Wow, this is so cool."
And of course, using the beautiful toile in all of the packaging, which is so fun. And branching out into our votives for, you know, the smaller size. We've got the coasters. We've got just cocktail napkins. The shatterproof cups, which was probably one of the first things that we really wanted to do. We did shatterproof cups from another company and we said if we ever found the print that would be something that we would do.
Kind of fun fact, you can wash them in the dishwasher and they're all reusable so don't throw them away.
Can I do that with mine?
Susan: Yes. And then um going into, you know, the keychains, we do dog collars, but also just the darling hand soap and lotion as well. Everything has the toile print on the packaging, which really is just what sells it. I mean, no one's going to want to throw away the package.
And then when Greta was when we started to work on these products, she said, "Well, I have this coastal Christmas idea and what do you guys think about that?" And we're like, "Oh, yes."
So again, she created the beautiful pajamas that are so it just takes all the great icons with a holiday twist to them. Holiday-ifies them. And so then we of course added together.
We all decided on doing, you know, bathroom towels again, the shatterproof cups. We have playing cards now, which are perfect for the stocking stuffers, and then we're even doing holiday cards. And it just goes on and on.
Liz: Greta also did the robe and this—and I think we sold out in the first four days and it's just a beautiful cotton robe.
When you had mentioned some of the go-to things when people come to the store, a cotton robe is just one of our favorites. A classic kimono style beautiful robe but in all different colors and and patterns.
And so we shared it with Greta about would you ever consider doing that? And she's like sure why not. And again, the holiday one sold out right away. But good news is we've got the classic Newporter coming in the beginning of the year, right?
Greta Harrison: Yeah.
Liz: So that's going to become a staple.
And I think again to note the special details that you add on to all of the gifts. It's just it makes it so—tag. I'm in love with the gift tag. And then I like this the tag here shows the collaboration between the two of you.
Susan: Yes.
Greta Harrison: Yeah.
The trays. all sorts of stuff.
So, we can see why this collaboration has been such a success and we're so proud of you, all of you, for um what you've accomplished and what you've brought to the community. Can you tell us if there are any new collaborations on the horizon either together or if you independently have new things that are coming in the future?
Greta Harrison: Yeah, I mean, I think I can say and you guys can elaborate on it, but we have um quite a bit um planned for 2026 and beyond. It's really exciting.
Um, I think for Newport Nowhere, the focus is just going to be working on coming up with a lot more patterns.
Okay.
Greta Harrison: Yeah. So, just trying to stay creative and um coming out with with some new things and maybe some fun new products with Newporter and and other other prints as well.
Liz: Oh, it's been so fun because again the launch of the Newporter design, but when you really see what Greta's designed beyond that already, we've already we already have a lot of fun things in production. So, to launch in the new year, using things that that that are already again, she just has created the the new patterns, right?
Greta Harrison: All new patterns.
Susan: And you might even start seeing other cities as well.
Greta Harrison: Yes.
Liz: So, um, there's something in the works for the new year, too, that we're really excited about. And again, just continuing to expand. I mean, just now we were talking about, well, we thought about this and thought about that.
And that's what's so fun is every time we get together, it's we're just all like going back and forth on what our favorite things are, what we would want to give as gifts, right? receive as gifts what we'd want in our homes, right? And and so it's really been a lot of fun coming up with those ideas.
Susan: And this is still new. It's brand new.
Liz: Brand new. It's brand new. It's literally 5 weeks old, maybe.
Oh my gosh. Wow.
Susan: 6 weeks old.
And it's so funny. Just a quick story. This morning, this woman knocked on the door at 8:30 and she was like, "Oh my gosh, I've been on your website all night. What time did you guys open?" And she bought like the entire collection. And she was going to uh what was it? a gift exchange and she wanted something that was different but that people would love and that were from Newport.
So, it was it's that kind of validation that we love hearing from our clients as well as the community which just makes this unbelievably exciting.
Greta Harrison: And to to expand on that, currently it's been available at Blue Atlas Marketplace and at Newport Nowhere, but we're thrilled to be working with Duffy now, too. our first retailer.
Liz: Yes, I know that's perfect.
Susan: It's perfect fit. It's perfect fit.
Liz: And some of the other things that people probably wouldn't think because we have such a corporate background. We're now looking to see industries that we can do a toile in and companies that we can do a—and I'm not going to get too specific—but there's a lot of fun things that are outside of the box instead of a city that we are making Greta work her—
Greta Harrison: I know.
Susan: I like your—
Liz: I mean there's just three of us of you plus maybe some little elves in the background.
Susan: We've got our behind the scenes. It's a lot going on. It doesn't ever stop really. Gifting doesn't stop. The art of gifting is so important.
Liz: Well, and this whole line will be a wholesale line. So, you know, we have our retail business. So, it will be a wholesale line and then we will take it to other retailers locally as well as across the nation as we grow. So, it's really exciting for all of us to be able to say, "I remember when."
Greta Harrison: And you guys knew us when.
That's right.
I know, right?
Will we get your autograph?
Greta Harrison: I don't know.
Might cost you.
Yeah, I know. Yes.
So, as we wrap up, we have a favorite question. And it is, if you um had a Duffy boat, what would you name it? So, I'll start with the Blue Atlas. Ladies, you go first.
Liz: Oh gosh.
I think you have Duffy boats. Do you? Do you?
Susan: No. No. No, you don't. But, um, I would think cuz I know it's always fun to kind of play off of the electricity and go. So, current— with a blue heart vibes.
Cute.
Oh, cute.
Current vibes. I love that. Perfect. How about you, Greta?
Greta Harrison: Um, I love playing off of the electricity or making it a little punny as well, I think. Um, what a day. like Wat.
Oh, that's cute.
Greta Harrison: Yeah, I love that, too.
I know. They're so fun. We see so many creative names out here.
They're so creative. It just—
So, yours is going to be real sassy, I think.
Liz: Maybe inappropriate for the show.
Susan: I would never do that. I—
Liz: I really It's so funny. I have not thought about that, but we were talking about it this morning and um probably maybe like Blue Bolt or something like that, you know?
Yeah, that's cute.
I'm going to have to—we'll have to put that into our group chat. We have a we call it BAM fam. So our two families and so we always send out ideas and get you know get everybody's opinions on everything that we're dreaming about.
Susan: Oh yeah. They get all of the toile they get everything and it's just this myriad of responses and it's from a 30-year-old my son to you know a 27-year-old her son to our husbands and they all have an opinion. I think that's a book in the making.
I know, right?
A fun book.
Yeah,
I know. But thank you for joining us. We loved hearing about your story and the story that you guys have collaborated on together and bringing all these special iconic prints to us to see and share with our viewers.
Liz: Oh, thank you.
Susan: Thank you. Thank you.
