Deery Me.

Speaking of local artists, (if you haven't read my last post, this won't follow on so well) whilst I was in Seattle it was a pure pleasure and fortunate experience of mine to meet a young man named Sean Dekkers. A friend of mine I was there with knew him from her motherland, New Zealand, and we all met up to say hello.

Original 3d renders made
from Sean's first drawings
(same goes for picture
on left)

Whilst evesdropping (no shame, I've made a post out of it) on a conversation they were having, I gathered that Sean was working on a project which involved him making life sized deer heads. At this point, I had to interrupt, admit I was listening, and get him to explain further.

As it turns out, Sean is a graphic designer/animator/artist/one of those supermadcreative types. He's worked on projects in several locations around the world linked with Microsoft, BBC World Cup and Deaf Awareness. At the time however, I had no idea of this, and wanted to hear more about the deer.

Over a series of emails, I grilled him for information. And of course one of my first questions was, why deer heads?! His response being, 'I like 'em. I grew up in the mountains and always wanted a deer head for my mantle but I'm not into killing animals so I looked for a nice alternative.' Good a reason as any I think, simple and to the point. And so, with his creative juices flowing, Sean decided to make one with his own fair hands, out of ceramics.

After getting some positive response to his idea from a few people he'd shown, Sean decided there was more to it than just making one to adorn his fire place, which is of course a very expensive option in itself. Sean explains how it started to evolve;

'I like the idea of using design as a tool to solve non-traditional problems, so I thought it would be fun to do a deer head fundraiser. I know a lot of designers that would do something similar if they could, so I thought I'd pass it on to them to get some of their artistic touches and then sell them as one offs for $500 a piece.'

Original master to make
the mould

It is Sean's goal to eventually create twenty of these deer heads, therefore potentially raising $10,000 for the lucky charity he has yet to pick. His heart is set on children who have been born into disadvantage, a worthy cause I'd say. The trick is to find one where the donation would go straight to the kids and not into someone's salary, that major downfall of the charity sector. So we can all be sure that whomever this does go to, it'll be the people who truly need it.

Having had him explain all the work that goes into these beautiful creations, I would say $500 is a bargain. Especially considering that no two will be the same, each with their own unique touches of the twenty artists they will be sent to. Also taking into account that around one thousand man hours will be put into the project.

The mould that will
create them all...

It's all a work in progress at the moment; I recevied a very happy email from Sean a few days ago saying the mould had just been made and it's turned out great. So it's full steam ahead from now on, and I sincerely wish each person involved the best of luck. If I had the money, I would buy one for sure because I'm in love with the whole idea. Shipping it home might be more expensive than the actual deer head though...

For more info on Sean and the work he's previously been involved with, check out his website here. More posts to follow on the deer, so watch this space...