By the time Jamaican-American Dwane Rich was in high school, he was by spinning at trendy parties in his neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In these formative adolescent years, he developed into somewhat of a pro-skater, in a similar vein to another neighborhood skateboard legend, Harold Hunter, and Blader Ryan Jacklone, with nearby stomping grounds in Union Square, Washington Square Park and The Brooklyn Banks. Dwane Rich’s DJing escalated into spinning at corporate events for the likes of Tommy Mottola, Zac Posen, Jay-Z, Andre Harrell and Maybach. This lifestyle, coupled with his experiences and creativity, lead him to express himself with the artwork that eventually evolved into his lifestyle brand, Diamond Headz.
After viewing documentaries on blood diamonds, Dwane Rich’s life was changed forever. Seeing the horrific images of children being slaughtered, violently torn away from their mother’s clutching hands, their limbs being chopped off, and finally being trained to kill as baby soldiers, all in a quest for diamonds, Rich felt an overwhelming connection to the African children, with the dawning realization that Freetown, Sierra Leone, was part of his Jamaican ancestry. This weighed heavily on his soul. He needed an outlet to channel the pain and aggravation he was feeling. He began sketching images of the facial expressions of children on diamonds. His drawings enabled him to release his anger and frustrations through his art. He then decided to take it to another level and try to sell his artwork in the hopes of donating portions to charities that supported the children in Africa victimized by civil wars and blood diamond trade.
Rich’s research led him to Russell Simmons’ non-profit organization, Diamond Empowerment, which is a non-profit international organization with the mission to raise money to support education initiatives to develop and empower economically disadvantaged people in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource. He was so impressed and engrossed by the organization, he not only wanted to align himself with them, he felt compelled, as well as inspired, to start his own non-profit organization.
While hosting one of his exhibits, a young man expressed how much he loved his artwork but could not afford any of his pieces. Rich then came up with the idea to make tee shirts so that those who could not afford his artwork could have a piece of his art. Thus, Diamond Headz was created. One of the most popular faces of Diamond Headz, named Clu$ty, became the face of the brand.
After meeting photo journalist and URB contributor Brittany Somerset, he realized they seemed to live parallel lives growing up on the Lower East Side, skating with Harold Hunter, and hanging out in Jamaica and running non-profit organizations. When Rich learned that Somerset created Red Ground Foundation to support under-privileged children in Jamaica and Sierra Leone, Rich thought there was no one better, or more like-minded, to tell his story, and the story of Diamond Headz.
When asked how he was inspired to create Diamond Headz, Rich said, “Perhaps, if one had to place an object that best describes radiance, stunning beauty and uniqueness, qualities most sought after by the masses, a diamond appears in my head. Thus Diamond Headz represents those radiant, stunning, beautiful and unique individuals whose mindset will always be sought after by the world.”
Recently, Diamond Headz celebrated its one-year anniversary with a party at Antik that featured live painting by graf stars Royce Bannon, Matt Siren and Pesu from Japan. Of course, the party wouldn’t have been complete without a Diamond Headz cake.
Loading ...
Bloggers write themselves into their pieces all the time. That’s how blogging originated.
DIAMOND HEADZ IN URB MAGAZINE – http://www.urb.com/2010/02/08/diamond-headz-for-diamond-minds/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
When writers write themselves into their pieces, its hard to see past the self promotion and take it seriously.