FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DEAFMETAL® Jewelry Designs for Women, Men
(Photos Courtesy of DEAFMETAL)
Click Here for Downloadable Photos
(LOS ANGELES) January 31, 2020 – DEAFMETAL®, the award-winning jewelry innovation for women, men and children who wear hearing aids, will be introduced to Oscar-nominated deaf and hard-of-hearing movie stars and celebrities during the DPA Pre-Oscars Style Lounge 2020, held Feb. 7 and 8 at Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel. Designed to transform hearing aids into personalized and designer jewelry, DEAFMETAL has already accumulated numerous global innovation awards since its creation 18 months ago.
Hearing loss can impact anyone, yet people often feel stigmatized wearing hearing aids. While eyeglasses can be viewed as an attractive fashion accessory, hearing aids still look like a medical device. Jenni Ahtiainen, creator of DEAFMETAL, believes it is time to change this perception.
”After working in fashion and music industries for many years as a badass designer, I have never felt more passionately about my designs,” says Ahtiainen, who became deaf in 2018. ”Nor have I ever felt they are as important to the world as I do now.”
Personalizing design in hearing aids significantly improves the self-image and self-confidence of hearing aid users. Hearing aid stigma is one of the major problems DEAFMETAL solves: DEAFMETAL gives hearing aids the ability to augment an individual’s personal style, thereby improving their lifestyle overall.
DEAFMETAL also shifts the focus away from the medical device and the disability to the person. It provides a much-needed point of conversation entry; hearing people often avoid conversation with a hearing aid user, but cannot stop themselves from commenting when they notice, “cool earrings!” Such a seemingly small conversation-starter breaks through social barriers that often keep hearing aid users isolated.
”With the World Health Organization estimating hearing loss will grow to 900 million worldwide in the next 30 years, DEAFMETAL also advocates for wiser hearing habits by our collaboration with musicians, bands and artists,” concludes Ahtiainen.
For media wishing to RSVP for the DPA Pre-Oscars Style Lounge, please email jenni@gtie.fi.
Jenni Ahtiainen has been a fashion designer for 12 years, selling designs in Japan, Europe and the United States. She has also designed stage costumes for musicians and actors such as Marilyn Manson, Snoop Dogg and Jeremy Irons – a particular thrill for a Finnish fashion designer who loves music. Ahtiainen lost her hearing in 2018—and was initially shocked. However, in August 2018, while thinking about the hearing aids she now needed to wear, Ahtiainen began to brainstorm. She innovated a small holster to surround the hearing aid and hung leather strips from the holster. Suddenly, the hearing aids looked more like her. They felt more like her. And she felt she looked like herself again.
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DESIGNER CONTACT:
Jenni Ahtiainen
deafmetal.info@gmail.com
jenni@gtie.fi
00 358 400 427 876
U.S. PR CONTACT:
Erika Pope
The Vox Agency
erika@thevoxagency.com
(702) 249-2977
FINNISH PR CONTACT:
Meri Kirjavainen
meri@gtie.fi
00 358 41 529 5209
www.deafmetal.store
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: @deafmetalcommunity, @gtiejenni (designer profile)
Blog: https://www.deafmetal.store/page/10/blog
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