Deaf Harrogate artist, Luke Christian, is one of eleven artists picked to design homeware and clothing for Comic Relief.
Mr Christian was born deaf and, since setting up his fashion brand, Deaf Identity, in 2019 has been passionate about using his creative talents to break down barriers surrounding the deaf community.
He was first approached to work with Comic Relief in July 2021 and thought the email was spam and said “it didn’t feel real at the time”.
His designs will be printed and embroidered onto homeware and clothing and sold online and in store at TK Maxx.
Other artists including Gok Wan and Supermundane have been picked.
Mr Christian’s design shows the word ‘love’ in British Sign Language in a simplistic, modern, line drawing. He said:
“The charity said they wanted to work with 11 designers/artists in total that had special backgrounds to what they do and with me being deaf and raising deaf awareness, this is why they approached me.
“At first it didn’t feel real, but now that it’s sunk in I just feel extremely grateful to be able to show everyone what a positive thing being deaf really is and I want to be able to use this opportunity to empower other deaf people to run their own businesses and to not allow society to tell us ‘you can’t do this because you’re deaf’.”
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The deaf gene runs in Mr Christian’s family so his mum and sister are also deaf. He said growing up he was often told he doesn’t sound or look deaf and felt like he didn’t fully belong in a hearing or deaf world.
He said one of his biggest motivators behind his brand is to show that every individual defines their own deaf identity adding “there’s no right or wrong way to be deaf”.
He was brought up oral and went to a hearing school until year 9 before moving to a deaf boarding school. He began learning British Sign Language (BSL) three years ago to help him communicate with other deaf people. He added:
“This opportunity is helping me to share more of who I am and why breaking down barriers surrounding the deaf community is so important to me.
“We can do anything!”