Despite being bullied at school for being on the autistic spectrum, a Kalk Bay teen has channelled his artistic talent into a blossoming online art business.
Clayden Botes, 14, was 6 when he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism spectrum disorder. He started drawing at a very young age but struggled a lot at school, his mother Antoinette Botes told the Echo.
“When all the kids had break time or even during aftercare, Clayden had to sit and have extra classes. He also got teased a lot, as he stood out from the rest of the kids,” she said.
Clayden adds: “I felt like I was completely normal, but for some reason, the kids were always judging me and making fun of me because of the way I acted. My reaction to that was to pick up a pen and pencil and draw. This made me feel better because I got to go into my own world and imagine different characters and how they would behave.”
According to Ms Botes, his teachers got frustrated with him to the point where he was chased out of class a few times for fiddling.
“For him to concentrate he has to fiddle or draw and that’s just something his teachers couldn’t or didn’t understand,” Ms Botes said.
Due to bullying, she took him out of school when he was 12, and it was then that his talent blossomed, she said.
“Clayden, who taught himself to draw and had no formal art training, would go to his studio, close the door, put in his earphones and start listening to music. He would hardly ever plan – he would just start drawing whatever comes to mind,” his mother said.
She is inspired by his abilities and consistently encourages him.
“Autism is a diagnosis and not a sentence,” she said. “We don’t focus on what he can’t do, but on what he can do.”
Their business, Claydens Designs, was born out of lockdown after Ms Botes lost her job during the pandemic.
She used to post her son’s art on Facebook, and it captured a lot of attention. That’s when they got creative.
“We were very down and out, so Clayden and I decided to sell T-shirts with his creations on them,” she said.
The mother-and-son team launched Claydens Designs in August 2020 and since then, Clayden’s vibrant drawings have been printed on canvases, bedding, leggings, shorts, and towels.
In October last year, the talented youngster won the Marmite Maverick competition, where he designed the next limited-edition packaging. He has also been featured in numerous news articles and interviewed several times on TV.
He is also working on a project that will be going international very soon, but he and his mom can’t say too much about it just yet.
Their hope is to one day have a business that will employ other autistic people as well as single moms like Ms Botes.
“We hope to be advocates for the autistic community – to show society that it is okay to be different and that autism is merely a diagnosis, not a sentence,” said Ms Botes.
For more information on Clayden’s art, see his Facebook page, Claydens Designs Shop, or email Antoinette at antoinette1973a@gmail.com
