Her ‘Junkyard Dog Flower’ design has now been made into jewellery by award-winning creators DEAFMETAL® and is being sold to help raise money for the charity Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK).
Gargi explained: “I’m thrilled to have won the competition with my design which was inspired by my personal journey navigating from hearing aids to cochlear implants throughout my childhood into young adulthood and celebrates the raw, layered nature of identity, resilience, and beauty.”
Gargi was diagnosed as profoundly deaf as a baby and wore hearing aids until she received cochlear implants at age 12. Her design features her hand-sketched illustration of a flower, UV printed on white leather.
The design can be worn with either a cochlear implant or hearing aid and includes a matching coil 'hat' design. Gargi added: “I am passionate about promoting accessibility and inclusive design through my work and I wanted it to be vibrant and resilient, just like the deaf community. Flowers reflect growth, transformation, and individuality, much like every hearing loss journey. This design empowers assistive devices as symbols of pride and style.”
The competition was a joint venture between DEAFMETAL® and AVUK to celebrate hearing technology which offers access to sound for deaf children and adults. It offered budding designers the opportunity to create unique jewellery which can be worn as part of hearing technology like cochlear implants and hearing aids. Entrants were encouraged to use their own personality and style to inspire their designs just as judge Tasha Ghouri had done in the most recent series of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing where she adorned her cochlear implants with gems and jewellery to tie in with her glamourous costumes.
DEAFMETAL® creates award-winning jewellery innovations for hearing device users and was founded by a fashion designer who started wearing hearing aids in 2018. AVUK delivers Auditory Verbal therapy to deaf babies and children helping them process the sound they receive from hearing technology, like hearing aids and cochlear implants, and supporting them to develop their spoken language so they can learn to talk like their hearing friends.
Joining Tasha Ghouri on the judging panel was AVUK CEO, Anita Grover, who is also a cochlear implant user, and CEO of DEAFMETAL® Jenni Ahtiainen.
Gargi’s winning design is one of two which are available now on the DEAFMETAL® website and 20% of the sales proceeds will go to AVUK to support more deaf babies and children across the UK.