Yesterday they said I couldn’t compete with higher brand names, but I was never trying to compete with them anyway. Today they say the beauty to my brand design is equal to any brand name! I always believed in my ability to design and try very hard to be true to all the influences abound, mainly because I am eclectic by nature. I don’t view this as a handicap but more of being intellectually balanced and receptive to all things possible increativity.

I’m sketching new collections while I multitask between writing this entry; answering emails; and deciding how long a grassroots business plan can work before we have to engage in more meaningful marketing strategies. I’m an artist, not an MBA graduate, so I’m not farming from a desk so to speak, I’m skillfully plowing my own fields and looking forward to the day I can reap a decent harvest. This clearly means developing greater opportunities for GGI through more distribution outlets and granting better wholesale pricing while allowing those who are savvy business minded individuals to partner with us.

As a designer I was never afraid to create what I thought was worth creating and scaling back my ideas from a down economy didn’t deter my visions of grandeur either. I am who I am and look forward to my next concept productions. Thank you for sticking with me and believing in my abilities, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Stay tuned for what’s coming down the pike, what a pleasant surprise you will find!

Sincerely,

Gary L. Jamerson aka Urban Picasso – Head Designer of GGI

I don’t know if Gazillion is really a word although I’ve heard it a Gazillion times over the years and my thought is; it must be a hell of a lot! But a Gazillion could easily describe how many accessories women have. My girl has over two hundred pair of shoes (she’s shopping for shoes today) and I make sure she donates at least fifty pair a year. I don’t know how many bangles, rings, necklaces, sun glasses, handbags, earrings etc. she has, but it’s a lot. Wait, I forgot to mention all that damn makeup everywhere, C’mon I say, the drawers are full of the mess.  And she has all but one closet for clothes in the house, you guessed it, the other is mine, but I argued relentlessly last week and copped another half closet. It was like pulling teeth just to get a little more space.

Who created this beauty thing anyway? I mean I do like a great looking woman and all, but I’m cool with nice looking too. Ok, forget about beauty from facial features and talk about beauty from accessories. As I mentioned women have more designs created to enhance their look that it’s somewhat ridiculous.

On the other hand, we men have nothing, nada, zero accessories to be pampered with and billions marketed at us is nowhere to be found. I forgot, they do spend billions to market to us, but it’s all on one product, a man’s watch! Yes, you heard me right, a man’s watch! We have this unique piece of accessory and place it on our wrist, and in one word (Yes!), it means as much to us as all those shoes, necklaces, rings, handbags, makeup, clothing and all that other crap that women buy so feverishly without much thought  to spend my ( her, your) money on.  

What is it that makes us feel so great about owning a watch? It’s very similar to owning a car or a great looking suit. And for many it has to do with how much you spend to own these items. I personally don’t think a person should spend more than they can afford simply because you can find a great looking watch at just about any reasonable price point. Let’s break down the options that most of us have for owning a nice quality timepiece.

Sport Watch: Diver’s and Pilot style watch designs are a huge hit amongst all age demographics. These watches tend to allow us a perception of adventure whether it is real or vicariously lived through. The most important thing is that it gives you a satisfaction and that serves the purpose. There are many brands and sport genres to choose from in all price ranges. And you don’t have to spend $500.00 or above to have a great look and quality watch. It can be worn with almost any attire, but casual open collar styles work best. Swiss and Germany dominate this manufacturing of brands. But there are many private label companies to choose from. 

[…]read more

I have always been an advocate for opposing counterfeit or fake designs (replica’s) of branded named products. But this doesn’t mean I don’t understand the value of counterfeiting of course. Counterfeiting is big business; if you haven’t seen the movie “To live and Die in LA” excellent points are taken from this illegal business. Greed is one; making serious money without real working habits is another reason that drives this illegal industry.

Personally I’ve been plagiarized with my designs before by verbatim. This is where the seriousness of the issue lies. Everyone gets inspired from others and modifies this or that; we see it in cars and clothing and many other products as well all the time. But to make an item exactly like another’s is called faking it. To make a product exactly like another’s and including their name on the product is called counterfeiting. And this is where the real problem lies.

Many well established companies look at it from a positive perspective of flattery and I can see why, and I’m sure you can to. I’m a small private label designer trying to become more established, and when I saw my design verbatim with another’s name on it, I felt like I was in the big times. Think about it, there are thousands of watch companies out there, and I was plagiarized, yes I had mixed emotions, but honestly, I was flattered to extreme excitement! I’m too small of a company to fight that off. But from a larger picture and living in a reality of business minded thinking, it sucks to say the least while holding back my tongue for more explicit expletives.

[…]read more

The new edition to the HK Convention & Exhibition center was opened for trade business for the first time this week from the 13-16th for the electronics fair (spring edition). The extension construction lasted a little over three years. If you ever have sourced products for merchandising, but have failed to visit Hong Kong for trade development, you have lost valuable opportunities to achieve a greater price point for your products.

Although it is true you can source from home here in the US through distributors and drop-shippers for hundreds of thousands of products, it’s not the same as sourcing direct. As a designer of watches I know the value of this statement, I source products from Switzerland, Japan, China, and Germany. Each country has magnificent trade development resources and trade fairs. However,  Hong Kong trade fair as set its sights on being king of them all which would include overtaking  Canton Fair in Guangzhou which 

[…]read more

Garlason Group International (GGI) brand watches opens avenue for online retail distribution. We will create new partnerships with existing online stores and boutiques that meet the criteria of merchandise and quality of their products. Our company produces the brands GGI and Urban Picasso which make a statement in the hip and sophisticated genre of fashion. Selected partners will benefit from exceptional wholesale distribution pricing and complete 24 hour customer service. Other benefits include marketing material, blogroll links, and fashion editorial ads for their use. 

Our company takes pride in our complete mastery of creating fine quality timepieces for over ten years and has demonstrated its ability to survive in tuff economical times such as these. New partners can take advantage for a limited time of our company’s online giveaway promotions which will be made possible for those that sign up through May 31 2009. Under this promotion partners will be able to announce to their customers a sign-up for our giveaway and receive a chance to win a free Men’s or Women’s GGI or Urban Picasso brand watch valued at over $600.00 

GGI’s new webpage is in beta mode, please allow us to continue its improvement.  

For further details, contact opportunities@ggitime.com  

Sometimes you have a day where you wish everyday was a repeat of why your day was so great. Today that day was here again for me. It started with a meeting of the minds with a brilliant photographer and photoshop master that sent me a note saying he would like to collaborate with me on several creative ideas. OK, this seems routine enough as I’m used to getting messages for meeting with individuals as well as companies wanting to collaborate in one way or another.

The meeting took place locally considering we both reside in the same city. We agreed to meet at a coffee house several blocks from his studio to chat and get a little familiar with each other. After 20 minutes we had realized we were mirrors of each other’s ideas and concepts on several fronts. The most important front was the love of art and passion it stirs inside to create great things.

We observed that there are many people who do not share in this understanding of art and its creative forms of expression. Life is a lesson of all kinds of enjoyments, some as 

[…]read more

My first visit to BASELWORLD in 2007 will forever be memorable. And I mean that in more ways than a few. I can’t put into words that can honestly express the feeling of being somewhere alone but never alone at the same time. I traveled alone to Switzerland but I was among tens of thousands of friends that I never knew prior to my appearance there, but for eight days everyone was everyone’s friend.

What can make grown people stay in aw for eight days and eat, sleep and talk about one thing and one thing only, Watches! I met just about every watch company’s CEO or representative from historically great watchmakers Patek Philippe to World Series of poker sponsor Corum. Having one on one conversations with  important people in an industry dedicated to creativity at its finest can easily be equated to having lunch with Microsoft’s Bill Gates times a thousand. I guess hearing the news from the newsmakers is quite different from reading the news from conventional magazines or aggregates.

The first day, or better known as Day 1 of this exciting time centers on the Hall of Dreams which is designed for le crème de la crème of the watch making industry. You can equate this hall as finding the most influential names in the industry. Rolex, Vacheron, Brequet, Breitling, Omega, Zenith, Audemars Piguet etc. to be located in this prime real estate area.  

[…]read more

Is it evident in the Greek interpretation that the Golden Ratio formula is the ideal standard to judge facial beauty? What about inner beauty, does that make up for the lack of facial beauty? Perhaps it’s the way I see things, but beauty to me comes from a variety of things and my first thought of the word beauty doesn’t take me to the obvious big screen star or super models facial features.

Does a beautiful day energize you? How about a beautiful car or fine made shoes? Beauty is what holds attention longer than the average look. It’s a way for us to appreciate or even identify with the unordinary as opposed to the ordinary. I’m attracted to beauty that resides in the arts. Can a painted canvass stimulate your inner desires to love and be loved? Or does it manifest itself from a lyrical form of dance expression? I dream in ways that allow my mind to be creative and sometimes live vicariously through the art of another. This may seem ridiculous to many, but to those that know my meaning will attest that this phenomenal exercise allows one to achieve an inner understanding and genuine appreciation of beauty in all forms.

[…]read more