My Passions…

The past weeks had been a whirl of product presentations for our new line ARTIZANS Organics.

The more I talk about it and explain to people why we launched it, the more I am convinced that indeed we have made the right decision.

And as if we do not have our hands full already, we have taken the next step, to introduce our nutritional line. To me, this comes naturally as the next step.

While we take good care of the outside of our body through our personal care line--- Human Heart Nature, even more important is the need to take care of what is inside our body. After all, there is not much nice skin or hair to maintain if our body is rotting and going haywire from the inside.

There is no question on the merit of the products we are promoting. We believe that we have GOD-sent products which first and foremost are blessings to us personally as users. This small bit of ambivalence though has nothing to do the with the product line, but largely because our fashion jewelry line---still our main business, which continues to flourish despite the odds.

Now in all of these, timing is the key.

You see, while we are doing all these ARTIZANS Organics presentations, I am also in negotiation with a possible distributor who will open several high-end retail outlets in Canada and Europe for our international brand IMPRESSIONE. This lady I am in contact with is quite amazing as she is currently the General Manager of one of the most recognizable American brands of apparel that has about 1,800 stores all over the US alone. While she is very nice and accommodating, I have to keep in mind that she really knows what she is talking about. She is indeed astute and business savvy with quite an energy that I need to match.

One of the tasks I am suppose to do is to come up with at least 45 collections by September for our launching during Eastern Canada’s premier jewelry fair, the JCK Toronto.

Whoa, this is definitely not a walk in the park considering that we are not only going to launch premium but also meaningful, designer-only collections, in other words, haute couture.

While this is definitely a good project to exercise creativity and a rare chance to partner with the industry’s best, in my heart, I feel the tug to get the message out there for ARTIZANS Organics.

At night, when I think about my mom who by the way celebrated her 2nd year of passing last May, or of family and friends who are desperate for something due to an ailing love one, I know that the more people I can share and tell, the more I would feel better. Not that we claim our nutritional line to bring forth miracles and cure terminal diseases (it would be good though if it does, as some documented instances did) but what pains me most is that there is just so much lack of information. There is so much ignorance and deception brought about by the high flying marketing campaigns of the various commercial products that we see nowadays. Deprived of the chance to be heard, healthier alternative products gets pushed back down, shelved and ignored. People do not make informed decisions on the choices they make, healthwise.

Does anyone even know the sugar content in a 8 oz bottle of soft drinks? Do we know that one of the main ingredients of canned goods is sodium nitrate (yes, go ahead look at the label of the can goods in your pantry), also the ingredients used in explosives?

You see, ARTIZANS Organics has become our passion, our own little contribution to the Filipino community and possibly to the world, as our nutritional line is not limited to Philippines alone. ARTIZANS Organics is also our way of telling our children that we love them so much, we want to be responsible and take care of our bodies.

Will there be a time that I would leave fashion jewelry for good and just work full time on ARTIZANS Organics? I don’t think so.

I sleep, eat and breathe with creativity and art, something I get to exercise with fashion jewelry. To do otherwise is to die a little inside.

My barometer in making important decisions though is based on GOD’s handbook itself---the Bible.

In Proverbs 10:22, it says, "the blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it."

Right now, I have no doubt GOD wants us to continue pursuing our fashion jewelry line.

After all, through this business, we continue to be a channel of blessing to more than a 100 full time employees.

I don’t think we would have all the rare opportunities we now have, if the Master’s intention is otherwise.

But as what is written in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."

Now if you are wondering what our nutritional line is, knowing that there is so much misconception and prejudices about food supplements and alternative products, we would rather give our product a chance to be fully listened to.

We want people to get the facts straight, and for people to have a chance to ask, argue and understand.

If anyone is interested, we are open to individual or group meetings to discuss this in detail.

What we do promise is that at the end of the presentation, anyone can walk away and say “No it’s not for me”. And that’s just fine with us.

We don’t need to launch ARTIZANS Organics. We can opt to just use the products and get the benefits just for ourselves.

We really don’t have to balance our time and resources and talk to people about it, which is not an easy thing to do.

But we choose the other way, in fact, the hard way. We just felt that as we have been blessed, we too should be able to bless others as well.

To do otherwise is to act selfishly and disobediently.

Let me direct you to another article written in the Freeman by a world renowned doctor of Oriental and Western alternative medicine based in San Carlos, California.(Click Here)

There are 3 parameters that ARTIZANS Organics abide when choosing the products that it promotes:

First and foremost is the health benefit of the product.

The product we endorse should be able to stand on its own health merit alone.

The integrity of the product and the company behind it must be intact.

If the product needs glitzy and costly marketing campaigns or it needs arm twisting and convincing, then it is not worth our time and effort.

Second, that it should be affordable or within most people’s budget.

We believe that no matter how good the product is, if we are unable to buy it due to price, it is considered nothing.

Third, as much as possible it should have some type of financial benefit, a possible income generating aspect to it, something we could all use specially at this time.

My passions? Well, it is very obvious isn't it? GOD, Family, Health and Art... exactly in that order.

Right now, the 45 collections of IMPRESSIONE Premium/Haute Couture is looking good. My next articles hopefully detail how this line unfolds.

To know more about ARTIZANS Organics and our nutritional line, contact us at organics@artizans.bz or (032)4223657 or 0922-8021681.

For overseas, we can also schedule for SKYPE conference.

Artizans Organics

Promoting Health
Nurturing Environment
Building the Nation
One Person at a time!

FASHION RECESSION

These past weeks had been very busy for me. I met up with a lot of old friends. Most have come home to Cebu after years of living and working outside the country. Others just visited Cebu for vacation. There was a lot of getting together, catching up on each other’s lives, and trying to reconnect threads of yester years.

I may have overbooked myself that I am now afflicted with a terrible flu. Thank goodness though that it’s not the H1N1 type, just the more common type which one gets whenever we lack sleep and rest. This is quite a price to pay for a fledging social butterfly.

Anyway, after countless get together, I noticed that whenever I meet friends with whom I have not seen for quite a while, there are 3 questions that I can now expect to be asked.

First question-----How are you? Usually this includes my family too.

Second question----How’s business?

And third but not least---How’s the recession affecting fashion?

There are of course variations to these questions, but the theme is pretty much the same.

I also used to give varied answers depending on my state of mind that day, but as this had been asked of me countless times, quite automatically I’ve been noticing myself ready with repeated answers. Answers which are pretty much like the pre-programmed responses on answering machines which I just hope none of my friends have noticed.

So, to spill the beans, here are the million dollar answers to these questions…..

Question number 1: How are you?

My answer to question number one largely depends on the breakfast I ate that day and of which side of the bed I woke up with.

The answer varies from “Okay, I’m doing well” to “I’m doing great”. Because I believe in positive thinking and of self-prophecy (one tends to act out what he or she earlier predicted or declared), I seldom give a negative answer.

There are days though when I really do feel terrible and in such rare instance, I would most likely just say “Okay ra”.

I believe that no matter how we feel or what our state of mind is, we still have a lot of blessings to be thankful for. It is just but right to focus on the positive rather than the negative.

Question number 2: How’s business?

Well, quite emphatically, I would answer that “Business is fine and only because of God’s grace” and that’s the undeniable truth.

Most business people veer away from the discussion of GOD. I once had been interviewed by a famous local business magazine and the writer who later became a very good friend of mine, once told me that she cannot put too much emphasis on GOD’s miracles in our business. As she is writing for a business magazine, she needs to write about clear and tangible business practices which led to our success.

While I know she and the magazine she works for, meant well. I cannot quite discount the fact, that apart from GOD, we really cannot do anything. Our company started really small, a measly sum of P200,000. This amount is really nothing considering that we put up a manufacturing company targeting the mid to high end market. At that time, no bank would grant us a loan as we have nothing to use as collateral.

That was 7 years ago and while the company is not immune to financial strains, to reach this far is a simple miracle. A grace and favor from GOD.

Now on the third question….

Question no. 3: How is the recession affecting fashion?

Well, this is a bit harder to answer.

For one, unlike food, shelter, or clothing, fashion accessories are definitely not on everyone’s priority list. In fact, this is usually at the bottommost.

For a fashion accessory company like ours, to maintain operations and grow sales when most companies are closing, is really a daunting task.

However it is good to keep in mind that while global economy might be depressed, the fashion accessory industry still remains to be a multi-billion business. While some companies and buyers may want to shift businesses at this time, a lot are actually sticking it out. A lot are riding the tide.

Quite amazingly, in our case, a few of our buyers have actually expanded their fashion accessory businesses.

What’s the secret? Well, I believe that the secret is no secret at all. The company who has expanded their business has gotten a good pulse of the business landscape. For fashion jewelry, it’s literally going back to basics. Classic, timeless, elegant, fashion items that doesn’t go out of style and those that offers great value for money are topping the chart.

This is the very same niche that our international brand IMPRESSIONE and local brand ARTIZANS have comfortably settled in for many years now.

I’ve been accused of shamelessly tooting our own horn when promoting our fashion jewelry line and yes, I agree that I do. We do however, walk our talk.

I am just thankful that we made a decision many years back to work on various themes as part of our design philosophy, one which includes the Classics as the biggest and most important among our design themes.

Not only do we develop designs that doesn’t go out of style, but we also make sure that we incorporate materials whose value by itself will certainly increase with the passage of time.

You will find a lot of IMPRESSIONE and ARTIZANS pieces infused with semi-precious stones, fresh water pearls, swarovski crystals and lots more.

ARTIZANS fashion accessory pieces may be had for a reasonable price. An earring for instance, would cost as little as P280 and already using these materials. I think that’s truly value for money!

So, how is the current global economic crisis affecting the fashion industry business?

I really cannot speak for the entire industry, but for the company I work for, it is good.

When most people are struggling to keep ends meet, it’s certainly unwise to invest in disposable fashion items. Classic jewelry pieces made of value added materials is the way to go.

If you are to shop for fashion jewelry as a fashion statement piece, a gift or simply to reward one self, I hope you can consider my 2-cents worth. Shop wisely everyone!