Championship Diamonds- Jason Of Beverly Hills

I had a blast writing this and I love the way it’s laid out. I’m also glad I tracked down one of the key players behind NBA Championship jewellery. Jason, as you can tell by his “of Beverly Hills” alias, is such a character. Who else would have two children also named Jason? This guy.

“Jewellery is a form of communication. It says how we feel about ourselves, who we remember and what we believe. A necklace might convey wealth, religion, marital status or pure, unfettered, fresh to death, wipe me down, swag. 

No matter what the jewels proclaim, Jason of Beverly Hills loves the conversation. Drake and ASAP Rocky’s favourite iceman, he adorns A-listers, royalty and the mega-rich. Jason’s lockbox includes diamond-encrusted loafers, a $400k iPhone case and the priciest toy car ever made. Basketball, however, is the soul of the operation.

Around half of all active NBA players wear Jason’s product. His reputation for educating rather than fleecing stars means he’s often introduced right after they’re drafted. LeBron, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green all met the jeweller before their first games.  

Financial wisdom aside, players also depend on JBH’s discretion. He’ll produce a disco-ball chain for a draft pick, help surprise their childhood friend or privately commemorate their loved one. JBH will polish the wedding ring – he’ll also appease the side-chick who didn’t get invited.

Jason’s so ingrained in the NBA; he’s learned to interpret the signs of a long career as well an upcoming blowout. Jewellery purchases say more than you’d think.

When a player examines what they’re buying, to learn what separates the VVS from the cubic zirconia – that attention to detail often translates into their wider career. A rookie who’s savvy with diamonds will likely read a sponsorship deal closely or think twice about leasing that third Mercedes. 

Read the full piece here.

New Freelance Work - A Kung Fu/NBA crossover

Animated tiles by my man Steve Duck, I think they look sick.

Damn I have been writing a lot lately. My brain is actually kinda sore. Anyway, I wrote this piece for Homecourt about the time Kareem starred in a Bruce Lee flick. It was actually super interesting to research. Might have to buy Lee’s autobiography next. Read on…

Bruce Lee stepping to Kareem is an event which belongs in your imagination. A basketball martial-arts crossover featuring a seven-foot centre playing a light-sensitive demon is so ridiculous it has no right to exist. I’ve refreshed Wikipedia and taken a cold shower just to double-check I didn’t make it up. And yet, here we are. 

The world’s standalone Kung-Fu fighter duked it out with Jabbar in 1972’s Game of Death. Bruce Lee’s final outing has the storyline of a Nintendo side-scroller. A retired champion pummels his way through a five-story tower looking for his sister. After defeating a dozen black belts, masters of Korean and Filipino traditions, a kicking adept and a praying-mantis style warrior, Bruce’s final boss is… an NBA champion. Stupid, right? Maybe. But it’s also amazing.   

For those unaware, Bruce’s fusion of swag and fury cannot be replicated. His tenacious smirk pierces the soul. Lee’s shadowboxing is spiritual communion with God. Watch as he two-steps enemies into submission.  

Tomes have been written about Bruce’s influence. He was the archetype for Goku. Neo mimics his beckoning hand in The Matrix. Lee’s melding of martial art disciplines inspired the UFC. There’s a striking resemblance to *Michael Jackson’s choreography. Even his octave shattering pitch sounds like a Jacko ad-lib. 

Before Lee’s untimely 1973 death, he spent years training Kareem. They were introduced while the latter was still in college. Abdul-Jabbar was an aikido disciple. A friend suggested he meet Bruce and try his Jeet Kune Do mechanic. 

Read more here.

Round 2 - NBA Photographer Nat Butler

Just like Usher’s Confessions II, Sometimes the sequel is as good as the original.

Part two of me versus famed NBA photographer Nat Butler. We cover the time he met Nelson Mandela and had to move away from the window because of snipers. Also travelling Paris before Magic Johnson's AIDs diagnosis. Read it below.

Within the NBA’s airtight bubble, Mr Butler is one of the few to eyeball this year’s playoffs. Joining a handpicked roster, Nat shoots from a delegated corner. Typically, he’d pace the hardwood like Frank Vogel after a bad foul. This year is different. Butler’s visuals of Tyler Herro overlooked by disembodied avatars are peak 2020. After four decades; Nat has officially seen it all. 

It’s difficult to appreciate everything the New Yorker has witnessed. Magic’s 1987 game-winning skyhook looks like a museum artifact. Nat’s Slam 1996 cover was one of my first magazines. 

Butler shot early games in monochrome because some newspapers didn’t run colour. He’d develop film rolls hoping his single button press captured a nanosecond of action. Nowadays, his visuals are available to a team of editors within seconds. In minutes, they can reach millions. 

Nat typically spends at least eight months with athletes. He’s in the locker room, at the medical centre, in the gym and on the floor. Players don’t censor their conversations because they know Butler. He’s not thirsty. Clout-chasing isn’t in his consciousness. He knows when to put the camera down and when to immortalize the scene. 

“It starts at the top. If you were good with MJ then you were good with the rest of the team. If you’re good with Lebron, then you’re good with everybody else,” he says. 

More jewels here.

Finding Zen in Mastery: A Conversation with Photographer Adam Marelli

Few know like artistic greatness like Adam Marelli. The New York photographer has documented master craftsman across the globe. I couldn't resist the opportunity to dig further into his brain. On this content elevator, there's a written feature below and an audio interview up-top. I can write a word or two, but this is my first time recording sound. It's not a podcast. It's an experiment. Stay for the wisdom, ignore the rookie presentation. Thanks! - Jimmy

Master Yasuhiro Hirakawa expertly moulds a knife in his Japanese studio.

Adam Marelli has decoded mastery. Through decades of studying craftspeople and notable artists, he's unravelled the mystique of perfecting a skill. 

Shooting maestros in their reclusive workshops enables Marelli to observe vocation honing up-close. From Japanese knife makers sharpening a 400-year-old practice to Venetian carvers chiselling wooden gondolas, Adam has a rare intimacy with excellence. 

Marelli's credentials as a builder and creative participant grant him access to sequestered workrooms. Makers guard their techniques and transfer skills to a select few. Their timeworn knowledge is the product of multiple generations and often passed through oral tradition. 

Documenting elite creators defines Adam's work as a photographer, teacher and artist.

Luckily, he's sharing the learnings for those not invited to the grandmaster's studio. 

Marelli began scrutinizing artists as a juvenile and later at NYU. He probed the biographies of Da Vinci, Michelangelo and other mythic figures for insight into their process. Seeking the key to their brilliance while attempting to hone his own, he unmasked the myth of innate talent. 

Historic maestros weren't immediately capturing the pillars of the Parthenon. They started simple and progressed slowly. 

Leonardo sketched hands a thousand times. Van Gogh drew apples, many apples. Artists weren't slogging through the 10,000-hour rule like scientific research. They enjoyed the creative process. They had fun. 

Yes, they even failed. Lighting master Caravaggio had several works rejected; the Renaissance equivalent of a public scandal. Bands make bad albums. Million-dollar statues get hidden away in cupboards. 

Bow makers at Shibata workshop just outside of Kyoto.

Despite cliched accounts of painters leapfrogging between achievements, Adam's career is closer to reality. He wasn't the born savant of Netflix biopics. As a 10-year-old, Adam was only marginally ahead of his classmates. There was no divine gift. In his own words, he had to "take some time to really suck." 

Adam also admits to a "touch and go" relationship with work. Most artists he knew were of the struggling kind. Marelli also undertook the typical hospitality jobs after college. Unimpressed with his NYU experience, his formative study was entirely unacademic. He spent ten years apprenticing with a master builder and studied under a Zen monk. 

Somehow his unorthodox path made sense. Marelli's now a multi-platform artist; working in sculpture, painting the ocean's surface, designing celestial building installations and of course, taking photos. 

Rather than further mystify the artistic journey, Adam sets the roadmap for others. His photography classes are a bright pearl in the digital sea of lukewarm content. Marelli's lucid curriculum makes the journey from rookie to adept feel less like wizardry and more like the inevitable consequence of making an effort. 

"I can just lay out a few lily-pads to get you where you want to go and then you can expand endlessly," he attests. 

Roberto Tramontin precisely shapes a Venetian gondola. His company D. Co Tramontin E Figli was founded four generation ago in 1884.

Adam removes the pomposity from art. This ensures the formidable topic is not only understandable but enjoyable for those of us who've ever felt silly at the museum. 

He says artisans have laid a roadmap for anyone to learn from, but their expertise is camouflaged by pretension.  

"Most art books, the ones that I read in school, they were crushingly boring. You'd have to be a lunatic to really get into this stuff, they were so dry. Artists lives were anything but dry, but they were passed through this academic filter."

In the above audio , we discuss Adam's beginnings and his humble career path. We also examine what he learned capturing remote tribes in Vanuatu, the similarities between master craftsman across the globe, and his advice for pursuing mastery in our own lives. 

All photos by Adam. Check out his website here: http://www.adammarelli.com/

Educate yourself on his workshops and online tutorials: https://amworkshops.com/

Adam's YouTube tutorials live here. Follow him on Instagram too. 

Audio credits: 

Intro California by Soyb & Amine Maxwell https://soundcloud.com/soybmusic https://soundcloud.com/aminemaxwell Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/syb-amine-california Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/aXCwXsa2T4E

Outro Beat Provided By https://freebeats.io

Produced By White Hot