Since starting in year 7, this young person has been gradually building his skills as an eye-gaze artist.  The cursor on the screen is controlled by the direction of his eyes and this means he can select colours, tools and make his own marks.  He loves to use the graffiti art program to create his own version of street art. 

All his key stage 3 specialist interest afternoons have built on this interest.  In year 7, he taught his friends how to make their own spray paintings.  In year 8, he showed them how to make a T-shirt design and in year 9, he designed his own business logo with his year 9 friends contributing their ideas. 

In year 10, he designed a beautiful yellow and black graffiti print and we approached Jelly Fabrics to see whether they could print TJ’s designs onto cotton. Inspired by a graffiti print neckerchief that he was using, we knew what we wanted to do with the printed cotton! We contacted Seen-in who made the neckerchief and asked if they would be able to use the print to make and sell neckerchiefs on their website and we were very excited when they said yes! We were able to have a preview of the whole design process and try a prototype – which looked amazing! When the neckerchiefs went on sale, we made sure that our young person's logo sticker was added to every one that sold.  We watched the stock count reduce on the website until they were sold out in all sizes in under a week.

Seen-in and our young person are planning another collaboration next term.  In the meantime, he is very proud and so are his family and his team. Keep an eye out for more news on this budding graphic designer and entrepreneur.