Whereoware introduces new licensing gallery, Warren Kimble to be first featured designer - .com News - online service introduction - Brief Article - Product Announcement

Art Business News, Feb, 2002

MCLEAN, Va.--Whereoware, a Web-based technology provider serving the gift, home and lighting industries, has announced the first in a series of online licensing galleries featuring a consolidation of products by individual designers, as well as sales tools such as plan-o-grams and in-store merchandising ideas for retailers. Products designed by folk artist Warren Kimble will be showcased in Whereoware's premiere licensing gallery. This collection of artwork and home decor, which includes ceramic giftware, wood decorative accessories, wallcoverings, framed prints, floor coverings, stationery and calendars, debuted on the Whereoware site (www.whereoware.com/warrenkimble) in January.

Warren Kimble-licensees offering products through Whereoware's licensing gallery include: Avanti Linens, Bacova Guild Ltd., Bertels Can Company, Boston Warehouse, Brown Family Farm, Cape Craftsmen, Cranston Printworks, Henfeathers, Hindostone Products, Landauer Publishing and Santa Barbara Ceramic Design. Kimble will help to promote this new online resource through a series of personal appearances at the Whereoware Concept Marketplace at Winter 2002 editions of the Dallas International Gift & Home Accessories Market and the New York International Gift Fair.

"This is a revolutionary new way for retailers to source artists and their collections, across individual, and otherwise distinct, licensees. Whereoware will offer retailers interested in Warren Kimble's, or other artists' designs, a one-stop shopping experience for sourcing, buying and reselling licensed merchandise collections," said Ben Johns, c.e.o, of Whereoware.

"While I am not a technology-savvy person, I believe the simple concept behind Whereoware's one-stop-shopping resource for licensed products will be a real winner," said Kimble. "Retailers need their buying process to be simplified and this online solution will achieve that in a wonderfully easy way."

According to Johns, Whereoware is developing a series of similar licensing galleries for other artists and suppliers. Plans call for these sites to be live in the months following the debut of the Kimble licensing gallery.