Meet Brandon Kaplan: VIEREN Swiss Made Luxury Watch

Meet entrepreneur Brandon Kaplan of Pizza, Wine and Disco and discover his VIEREN leather automatic watch blending music, fashion, and culture.

Brandon Kaplan brings people together one pizza at a time. Originally from South Africa, this Toronto entrepreneur is behind the popular downtown spot Pizza, Wine and Disco. After careers in wholesale fashion and at Canada Goose, he launched his first business, Zilo Art. Blending music, fashion, and art, Brandon redefines Toronto lifestyle and entertainment, Brandon sits down with VIEREN to share how style, keepsakes, and passion power his time.

How did you get started?

Interestingly enough, I used to work at a Wolf of Wall Street sales setting after university. A bunch of guys in suits just making cold calls. We were selling event packages to different corporations, so we would call senior level executives to get them to come to our events. In doing that, there would be this Italian guy who would come into the office and sell us all suits. He took a liking to me, and he was like, you would work really well in fashion selling these suits because you could model them. You look good in them.

So from there, I pivoted and started working with him. We began going to different law offices and corporate settings selling business people on suiting, so I learned the intricacies and details of measurements and different fabrications and just fashion in general. It was just him and I, so I really got mentorship from this person.

What inspires you?

The inspiration is to be successful and to be happy. To me, being happy means having expectations that most closely align with your reality in life. Matthew McConnaughy said this in a speech once, he said: "If you set your hero as you in 10 years, you will always be chasing that person because in 10 years, your hero becomes 10 years from then." For me, I'm always trying to chase to become a better version of myself.

"This is for a customer who cares about quality, who doesn't want to spend a complete fortune on a watch, but still have a watch that they can have for many, many years with sentimental value to them."

Brandon Kaplan

EXPLORE WHITE CROC

How do you stay motivated?

It's hard. There's no prescriptive method to stay motivated. It's understanding that adversity in life is a good thing. Instead of having the mindset of "I have to", it's "I get to". Instead of "I have to go to the gym today", it's "I get to go to the gym today". It's easier said than done for sure. But it's understanding that going through pain, and the things that you don't want to do, is an indispensable prerequisite to being successful and being happy. We need purpose. We need to go through things we don't want to do.

Was there an "a-ha moment" for you?

There was a brand there called Zane Robe from Australia that was on one rolling rack tucked away in the back, and they had just started up. This was like 2014 and I just fell in love with this brand. I started selling it and it blew up in Canada and that led me deeper into the path of wholesale and then I got poached by Canada Goose.

So I went to Canada Goose corporate and I managed their largest portfolio of business within the company. It was a big portfolio of retail partners that I manage and I realized in life, there are two paths. There is art and there is science. Science is the analytics behind everything, which you need. You need to understand inventory position, the market intelligence, pricing (especially if you're working in global markets), and you need to know Microsoft Excel. So when you're working on big accounts, you're just on Excel and I realized in that moment, doing 9-10 hours a day behind triple screens on Microsoft Excel was not where my spirit or soul was meant to be for the rest of my life.

What's your favourite time of day?

Golden hour, for sure. Sun is just starting to set, that moody sense of shift into night, especially when you have a beautiful sunset.

"My idea was to blend music, fashion, and art. There was this synergy that I felt. Everything already goes together seamlessly so it wasn't forced and it just naturally worked together."

Brandon Kaplan

What is your relationship with watches?

My relationship with watches stems from my grandparents. The first watch that I ever got was from my grandparents, and my grandfather when he passed, he left me money to buy a watch. So I bought the watch that he had but in a new version. Personally that's my connection to watches.

What are you looking for in a watch?

I like a watch that's versatile. All of my outfits should be able to play into the watch that I have. I'm not necessarily someone who has a multitude of watches in his collection, so when I do have a watch, I need it to be versatile. Because whatever pieces I put together in terms of my outfit, I want that watch to go on and works with that outfit.

How do you power your time?

I feel most powerful when I am looking my best, feeling my best, and when I've been consistently active. Motion creates emotion.

"The biggest thing is - it feels good. It feels good when you wear it. It can look beautiful, the design, but when you put it on your wrist, that's when it really matters."

Brandon Kaplan

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