John Kiapos - Arts & Letters

JOHN KIAPOS - ARTS & LETTERS






JOHN'S BUSINESS BIO


John Theodore Kiapos has an extensive business background beginning with his family's enterprise, Omega Shoe Polish Company, Inc. www.OmegaShoePolish.com, which was founded by his grandfather, John H. Kiapos, in 1911, and was notably regarded as the finest quality shoe polish in the land! The website is in honor of his family's entrepreneurial tradition, and John has catalogued all of the product formulas and maintained the Omegaź registered trademark, and perhaps John may resurrect this quality line of products at some time in the future.

John's father, Ted Kiapos, www.TedKiapos.com, continued the tradition at Omega, after serving in the Pacific Theater during WWII, expanding the business in the 1950s and 1960s, and John joined his dad in 1969, working his way up the ladder, starting in the factory on the production line, mixing the creams, dyes, and polishes, modifying machinery, then graduating into sales and sales management, and finally serving as president. John and his father also launched a leather accessory line, Living Leather of California, manufacturing handbags and belts, selling to national retail chain stores such as J.C. Penny, Sears, Edison Brothers/Leeds Shoes, Shoe Corporation of America, and K-Mart to name a few.

Unfortunately, shoe polish became an anachronism, like buggy-whips. It was at that time that John indulged himself, becoming self-taught in computer programming, starting with Basic and dBase, then moving on to C and C++. John is also proficient in all web-based languages. In 1983, John founded Digital Information Systems,

John's business card

and developed custom turn-key business management software applications for manufacturers, including Maui and Sons, apparel manufacturers, and Custom Leathercraft, a national tool pouch manufacturer. John enjoyed software development and rollouts but felt compelled to go back into manufacturing. It was in 1986 that John began Button Art Studios (see below).

Presently, John operates several businesses, all based out of his family's 10 acre family compound in La Tuna Canyon, California, in the foothills of Los Angeles, where he has lived since 1966:

1) La Tuna Locations, founded in 1995, serves the filmmaking community with unique interiors (over 10,000 square feet) and exteriors throughout our 10 acres, www.LaTunaLocations.com. La Tuna Locations also serves as a rural venue for outdoor weddings, receptions, corporate events, and farmers' markets.

2) Button Art Studios, www.ButtonArt.com, founded in 1986, specializes in machine washable, dry cleanable artistic buttons for the apparel industry that compliment colors and graphics on fabric.

John, also an inventor and a holder of several patents, which he exploits through Button Art, has developed and patented the only viable and scalable method for enameling ball chain (the metal shot beads used to turn on your ceiling fan). He enjoys an exclusive arrangement with Ball Chain Manufacturing, based in Mount Vernon, New York. BCM is the world's largest manufacturer of ball chain, producing the finest product for a myriad of uses including military dog tags, window blinds, jewelry, to name just a few. As their exclusive enameller, John's artists color millions of feet of ball chain annually with his unique method, since 1989, all produced in his art studio at his family compound.

Another of John's inventions is the conversion of color ink jet printers where the drive mechanism for the sheets of paper has been converted to a conveyor assembly where he runs trays of buttons which receive a first generation graphic color print on the button. John has many of these proprietary machines that collectively produce over 10 gross (1440 units) of machine washable/dry-cleanable graphically decorated buttons in full continuous tone color per minute. John also produces a decorative line of ball chain jewelry and accessories.

3) Reel Gems Pictures, LLC, established in 2005, www.ReelGems.com, where John has been co-manager along with his academy award winning partner, co-manager, Gene Warren Jr., Gene Warren Jr on IMDB, until Mr. Warren passed in 2019. John now serves soley at the helm where Reel Gems has over a dozen feature film projects in various stages of development. Presently John is in pre-production with his sci-fi thriller feature film, "Sacrificial Seeds from Outer Space", as well as his comedy feature film treating politically correct art conformity, "Diversity".

4) Maiden Voyage Productions, LLC, established in 2015 with his daughter, Sophia, www.MaidenVoyageProductions.com, is their production company which produces content for entertainment and advertising. Presently, they are in pre-production with their feature film, "Arezou", Arezou Pitch Deck.

5) Micro Amusement Corporation, established in 1992, www.MicroAmusement.com, offers educational, spiritual, and game freeware and shareware software online. As an award winning multi-media author, John developed the first billiard parlor game software for Windows, POOLMASTER®, and was awarded by Microsoft the license to use their Windows "Flag" logo for this product. Also under the Micro Amusement banner, John has developed business tools "FreeWare", and educational and Spriritual "FreeWare", including ABC4KIDS, BibleReader, The Randomizer, CHESSter, and VendWiz, to name a few of John's titles.

6) John has also founded Omega Botanicals Sales Agency LLC, www.OmegaBotanicals.com, with his daughter, Athena, established at the beginning of 2019. This sales enterprise specializes in formulating and distributing private label Essential Oil Extracts to the Health and Wellness arenas for fragrances and bio-wellness support. All of these Essential Oil products are imported from Egypt and are extracted by means of an Ancient Egyptian cold distillation process where the bio-mass is hydrated and stored in alabaster casks and buried underground for more than six months. This cold distillation technique yields the purest of oils and preserves all of the energetic and healing properties (Chi) of the particular plant as well as producing an incredibly more potent natural fragrance without the compromising element of modern day heat distillation.

7) John and his daughter, Sophia, are developing a transformative rebranding of the La Tuna Canyon Ranch Compound through www.GaiaLaTuna.com. Gaia La Tuna is now developing an organic sustainable permaculture garden facility, where classes will be offered teaching proven methods for self-sustainability through Organic Home Gardening and Eco-Preservation, as well as offering an incredible Farm-To-Table Organic Outdoor Dining experience for guests here at their gated 10 acre compound.

John has been happily married to his sole mate, Carmen, since 1989.

Close Bio




John with his father, Theodore (Ted) John Kiapos, 1953



John's dual portraits, 1953



John with his maternal grandfather, Papou Erotokritos Alexander Mayakis, 1954



John at 11 years old, 1964



John. John Muir Junior High School, 1967



John. Butbank High School Senior Picture, 1970



John at 20yrs old, 1973



John with his paternal grandfather, John H. Kiapos, Founder of Omega Shoe Polish Company,
(picture taken September, 1977)



John Kiapos with father, Ted Kiapos, and Sophia, 1991



John's mother, Aspasia, John's sister Theodora, John's wife, Carmen, and daughter, Sophia, 1992



John with mother, Aspasia, and wife, Carmen, 2008



John Kiapos' 60th Birthday with daughters, Sophia and Athena, July 1, 2013



John with Beard, 2020



John Kiapos and wife, Carmen, December 3, 2021



John Kiapos family, wife, Carmen, and daughters, Sophia and Athena, December 3, 2021



John Kiapos at Langham Hotel, May 29, 2022



John and Carmen Kiapos at Langham Hotel, May 29, 2022



Aladin On The Carpet
A Cartoon Short
Created by John Kiapos


IN PLAIN SIGHT

Beware.
Their demonic statuary,
Grotesque, reptilian, and birdlike,
Remains still for a time,
Only to whisper in the wind
For those who look
And listen in darkness.
Designed by artisan servants
For their masters' delight,
Strategically positioned by architects
For their masters' delusion,
Adorning edifice after edifice
Waiting in frozen state,
Waiting for that marked day
When chaos, in its final frenzy,
Culminates after countless centuries of secrecy,
Where they will rise out of the ashes,
Wings spread in full extent,
Swooping down like new centurions,
Enforcers of a new order
That has quietly been ushered in.


GOING TO POT
(Norma Jean's Lament)

When asked which branch is best to link
The reader and writer in rhyme,
Is it better preserved to think in ink
Or log the mind a hit at a time?


QUEEN GERTRUDE AND THE BEEKEEPER

Now don't be droning
Over the death of bees, honey.


THE STRUMPET WIND

She longs to fill a void.
She sounds the horns!
She blows.


CLUB OF MONEY

In their suits
They play their games
Without a heart,
For diamonds and deliverance.
They lend a hand,
Give us an arm,
For an arm and a leg,
Then give us the spades
And the finger.


John Kiapos
As a Young Man
Created by George ALEFantes Alef.Net


John Kiapos
As a Young Man
Created by George ALEFantes Alef.Net


ParisianRag.Mp3 - 1.4 MB
Parisian Rag
Created by John Kiapos



Parisian Rag
The Music Video
Performed in Los Angeles in 1972 at "The Cottage"

Created by John Kiapos



Twin Towers
Twin Towers
Created by John Kiapos - 06-02-1991



John Kiapos
As an Artist
Created by John Kiapos



John Kiapos
As a Business Man
Created by John Kiapos



John Kiapos
As a Family Man
Created by John Kiapos


THE ROSE

Crimson flaps blazonly attract
As their aromatic arrows
Passionately allure in the breeze.
Drawn closer to touch
The velvety plum,
To take and embrace
It's very essence,
In a snap and a yank
Comes the price of possession:
Where pulling too hard
Will reap a bloody prick,
And without care and devotion
There is no joy in the wither.


TRADEMARX

MADE IN USA
(by illegal aliens)


CAPTIVE TO THE CARNIVAL

I have blindly crept in.
And can see the light,
As I become shown to my plot,
Which becomes familiar.
The elders, ahead of me,
Appear to clearly forge the way,
Which becomes wrought.
Further on; clearly I cannot see;
Only the seeming way that is to be.

The spaces fill behind me,
And here, now,
I become once, twice, and then again,
Removed from the beginning,
Only to know what is in the midst.
And I look to the right,
And it's left me to see,
What is right to the left of me;
A boundless sea; in and about me.

I await the becoming;
Which has already been;
The unleashing of currents,
Casting me and all like, aspew,
Where I am then again to see,
And recognize a few.
I and they, we too, share experience.
They become old, as new.
And I take refuge in the appearance of similar ways,
To find that I am only what has become, being,
And is to be.

Here, today, I have come to show myself.
Shown, there's response.
And the few that become to do,
Seemingly appear to be a familiar few.
Hail me, you, the familiar few,
Who characterize the appearance,
Of what has become to pass.
(February 3, 1976)


FORMS

Fixed: All stops.
Spelled, spiraling whorls eddy.
Endlessness nears the narrowing vastitude.
Further, fantod forms fix:
All stops.
All art tranquil.



Alarmantra!

Alarmantra! Alarmantra!
So chilling to hear,
Frosting truth to the gaggle,
Numbing through fear.

Alarmantra! Alarmantra!
What does it say?
Feeding freely in doses,
Paralyzing the prey.

Alarmantra! Alarmantra!
When shown as a fake,
Warms the huddled cold turkey.
The bondage would break.

Alarmantra! Alarmantra!
What would they do?
When turkeys become eagles,
Their greatest fears would come true.


John Kiapos
John Kiapos
Created by John Kiapos



John Kiapos
Faces of John Kiapos
Created by George ALEFantes Alef.Net

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