Huncho

I am Canadian born to Jamaican parents. I am a passionate, driven individual who pushes myself hard to get where I am today. I go after every dream with the same determination and mindset. I have had a passion for art from as long as I can remember; at one point my love for art, paired with my love for sneakers had me thinking I wanted to become a shoe designed. After taking an art class in grade nine, which focused more on theoretical ideologies than actual drawing; I somewhat lost that designed drive. During the same period of high school – grade nine- I began my entrepreneurial journey. String bags / backpacks became the fashion accessory of that time and I capitalized on the need of a low cost option for my friends and I. I bought bandanas, shoelaces from the dollar store, and with the help of my mom sewing skills, I made a fair bit of money selling these bags. I got involved in sports at an early age as well. I started out playing soccer through the City of Brampton’s recreational program and then moved on to their basketball program. I played basketball and volleyball in high school as well. I always loved football but was never able to play due to the cost at the time. I was introduced to rugby in my last year of high school after a friend convinced me to try out for the school team. Rugby became the sport I excelled in; during my peak, I had a great run with the Brampton Beavers Rugby Club where I earned a number of accolades and went on to earn caps internationally on the Jamaican Rugby team where I have played a number of games for the country. After conquering Rugby, I moved on to football, my first choice of sport, by starting in an indoor league before moving to outdoors. In the indoor league, I have been on championship teams and have won MVP awards. On the outdoor team where I currently play with the GTA All-stars for the past three years, we were Ontario champions all 3 years and national Champions 2 of the 3 years. I was named to the Second Team Offensive All-stars. My adult job as a Teacher’s Assistance has afforded me time to continue my sketching which has also become a conversational tool at times for my students and myself. I have numerous books of sketches that will probably one day evolve into other things. My branding logo that I have created is a perfect mixture of my love for both art and sport; I used myself as a rugby player for inspiration and digitalized the image. I have been using this logo on all my work, be it clothing or otherwise. My t-shirt business started once I began creating shirts for myself to wear at games with quotes that showcase my feelings at the time; the first one being “ let Boobie spin”; a quote from Friday Night Lights. The shirts evolved into other works such as cultural sayings and the most successful venture thus far has been my ability to capitalize on the Toronto Raptors successful run to the 2019 championships. I designed variations of the mascot with a Jamaican flair where I used patois to create messages. The constant enquiries of the shirts became like my backpacks in high school; a huge financial success. Another one of my artistic endeavors was again started in childhood where I always loved making special occasions cards for my family. To date, I have never bought a commercial greeting card; I always create my own personalized cards. These cards are all handmade with a variety of mediums i.e. felt, glitter, etc. The business evolved when my co-workers would see me in the staff room working on cards and would always provide positive feedbacks. Feedbacks eventually became personalized orders and Christmas of 2018 was a successful year for my card making business. I moved on to Valentine’s Day and now am making cards to order. I am resourcing more materials and equipment to further capitalize on this market, while keeping cards as individual and personal as possible. Social media has played a vital role in getting my art work recognized; I have registered my creativity in the name of “Huncho Design”.