Miss-Delectable
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http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200512010143.html
Graphic designer Hidehiko Kado, 34, learned to draw for a reason quite unlike most artists: He wanted to communicate with his parents, who are deaf and mute.
The Nagasaki Prefecture native came to Tokyo in 2000, where he now works freelance, designing clothes and accessories, out of his home in Nakano Ward.
He has held private exhibitions of his artwork, including at the apparel chain Beams in the city. Although he has a busy career in the fashion industry, he also makes time for more personally rewarding work.
Kado teaches art to children at a school for the hearing-impaired.
He knows well what it is like to live in the world of those who cannot hear or speak. Neither his father, Hiroyuki, 64, nor mother, Kumiko, 67, can do so. Kado grew up without ever hearing a bedtime story read aloud.
In lieu of verbal conversations, Kado talked to his parents through pictures. By the time he was 4, drawing had become second nature to him.
Many of the people who dropped by his family home were deaf, too. No one could really talk properly, so pictures became the main method of communication as he grew. "I remember we all used to have great chats using pictures," Kado said.
As a preschooler, he was curious about letters and characters. He drew a message to his mother, begging her to "teach me how to write."
They worked out an intuitive system. When he wanted to learn the hiragana character a, for example, he drew pictures of things that started with that sound, such as ari for ant. Kumiko would guess what her son wanted to know, and write out the symbols for him: a and ri.
At his nursery school, life wasn't easy. Kado's vocal skills lagged his classmates, and he soon became a loner. But his expert drawing skills helped him make friends. The kids loved his sketches. Every day, he would make drawings for his friends and give them away.
When it was time to enter high school, Kado chose one that offered a design course. His good marks made him eligible to apply for early admission: All he had to do was pass a health checkup, and he would be accepted.
But at the checkup the doctor found Kado was partly colorblind. The school rescinded its decision to admit him.
So Kado went to another high school. After graduation, he moved from job to job. One day, someone noticed some artwork he had created on display at a boutique his brother had opened. Kado was offered a job as a designer at an apparel company in Fukuoka.
Kado had finally found his calling. He next created a huge mural on a wall in the middle of a busy entertainment district. Passers-by took notice, and from there, he launched his first one-man show.
He also began incorporating "hand talk" sign language motifs in his works.
The designer created a T-shirt that described how to say "I love you" in sign language. The response was extremely positive.
One customer in fact thanked Kado profusely for coming up with that design. "I proposed to my girlfriend using the signs on your T-shirt," he told him.
In 2002, Kado created "Ring Bells: Hand Talk = Heart Talk," which was published by Bunkasha. It is an introduction to signing that uses simple illustrations to teach the basics.
Starting in April, Kado became a special lecturer at the Saitama Prefectural School for the Hearing Impaired in Omiya. He teaches art to 56 elementary school children with hearing problems.
"It felt like I was seeing myself as a young child again," Kado said of his first days in the classroom. "For me, drawing has always been a means of communication. And it still is."
Graphic designer Hidehiko Kado, 34, learned to draw for a reason quite unlike most artists: He wanted to communicate with his parents, who are deaf and mute.
The Nagasaki Prefecture native came to Tokyo in 2000, where he now works freelance, designing clothes and accessories, out of his home in Nakano Ward.
He has held private exhibitions of his artwork, including at the apparel chain Beams in the city. Although he has a busy career in the fashion industry, he also makes time for more personally rewarding work.
Kado teaches art to children at a school for the hearing-impaired.
He knows well what it is like to live in the world of those who cannot hear or speak. Neither his father, Hiroyuki, 64, nor mother, Kumiko, 67, can do so. Kado grew up without ever hearing a bedtime story read aloud.
In lieu of verbal conversations, Kado talked to his parents through pictures. By the time he was 4, drawing had become second nature to him.
Many of the people who dropped by his family home were deaf, too. No one could really talk properly, so pictures became the main method of communication as he grew. "I remember we all used to have great chats using pictures," Kado said.
As a preschooler, he was curious about letters and characters. He drew a message to his mother, begging her to "teach me how to write."
They worked out an intuitive system. When he wanted to learn the hiragana character a, for example, he drew pictures of things that started with that sound, such as ari for ant. Kumiko would guess what her son wanted to know, and write out the symbols for him: a and ri.
At his nursery school, life wasn't easy. Kado's vocal skills lagged his classmates, and he soon became a loner. But his expert drawing skills helped him make friends. The kids loved his sketches. Every day, he would make drawings for his friends and give them away.
When it was time to enter high school, Kado chose one that offered a design course. His good marks made him eligible to apply for early admission: All he had to do was pass a health checkup, and he would be accepted.
But at the checkup the doctor found Kado was partly colorblind. The school rescinded its decision to admit him.
So Kado went to another high school. After graduation, he moved from job to job. One day, someone noticed some artwork he had created on display at a boutique his brother had opened. Kado was offered a job as a designer at an apparel company in Fukuoka.
Kado had finally found his calling. He next created a huge mural on a wall in the middle of a busy entertainment district. Passers-by took notice, and from there, he launched his first one-man show.
He also began incorporating "hand talk" sign language motifs in his works.
The designer created a T-shirt that described how to say "I love you" in sign language. The response was extremely positive.
One customer in fact thanked Kado profusely for coming up with that design. "I proposed to my girlfriend using the signs on your T-shirt," he told him.
In 2002, Kado created "Ring Bells: Hand Talk = Heart Talk," which was published by Bunkasha. It is an introduction to signing that uses simple illustrations to teach the basics.
Starting in April, Kado became a special lecturer at the Saitama Prefectural School for the Hearing Impaired in Omiya. He teaches art to 56 elementary school children with hearing problems.
"It felt like I was seeing myself as a young child again," Kado said of his first days in the classroom. "For me, drawing has always been a means of communication. And it still is."