Do all men think with their dicks? Roger Huskens, the open-minded graphic designer and founder of ‘Dicks Don’t Lie’, certainly does and comes to YASS to prove this. He also explains his fascination towards the anatomical construction of the body, no matter if we are talking about hard and hairy bits to peachy and juicy pieces.
‘Dicks Don’t Lie®’ is a quirky, independent brand that celebrates the joy and innocence of these otherwise hush-hush body parts. The hairy butt, the penis, the tit and the unshaven leg are glorious, comical and fascinatingly cute body parts that deserve to be celebrated and not hidden.
Roger brought his magic and all the dicks that don’t lie to YASS and here is everything you should know.
Who is Roger Huskens and how do you identify?
I’m a 33 year old boy. I work as a graphic designer, I have my own design agency (ROGER+) and I am the founder and creator of Dicks Don’t Lie. I live with my super cute boyfriend (@roelslabbers) and our cat (Jop) in Maastricht (Netherlands).
How would you describe yourself?
Quirky, free-thinking, childish and enthusiastic. My head is always bursting out of ideas that I want to create, do or tell the world. At the same time, there are a lot of things that bother me regarding our times and society. I love breaking taboos and make people aware of certain sensitive topics, in a fun and easy-breezy way. Things I am fascinated about are: the way children think, nature, art, design, the universe and dicks! I also love to inspire people and become philosophical about things that people initially think would never happen.
Tell us some things about you! How did you come up with the idea of having your own business?
After studying graphic design in Belgium, I worked at my dream design agency. After a few years working for a lot of amazing brands, I met my boyfriend and decided to move back to Maastricht. I wanted to start my own business, but I came across a design agency with a lot of cool projects. I worked there for a year and couldn’t resist to start my own design agency. One of the coolest projects I have been involved with as Head Designer, was the design of the brand identity and the products for Sirens & Pirates (a Manchester based indie brand whose owner is Donna-Marie Povey @donnamariepovey). I love how life can bring certain people on your path. This is all I needed for Dicks Don’t Lie, that’s why Donna-Marie is now the writer of all the important Dicks Don’t Lie texts.
What is the story behind Dicks Don’t Lie?
My design studio is all about connecting with entrepreneurs, telling unique/personal stories and creating brands, products, campaigns, books. I love designing brands that have a personality on their own. Not something just trendy, but timeless. 5 years later, I was attending a ceramic classes and we had to write our name or draw a symbol under our pottery creations. First, I wrote the letter R, that later transformed to a heart, and then to a penis. One day, I was singing “Hips Don’t Lie” from Shakira, but instead of hips I said “dicks”. I wrote it under my pot and I got tickles in my tummy when I saw that name. That was it. When I went home I bought the domain www.dicksdontlie.com, and created all the social handles.
What is the character of your brand?
What I do for my clients, is something that I would also do for my brand. I like to create the perfect brand, I am interested in the naked body, I make cute childish drawings and I try to break taboos by highlighting the cuteness of body parts, instead of over sexualizing them. I always love how children look at nude bodies and I hope it can inspire adults too.
I also have a addiction of collecting underwear (briefs in particular) and I got a tattoo of a pair of briefs on my arm. As a tribute to this, I made this my first pin (https://dicksdontlie.com/shop/products/pin-room-with-a-view/). After that, the rest followed (logo, website, unisex apparel collection, bags, limited edition screen prints, greetings cards, pins, packaging, illustrations, photography, etc.).
Do dicks lie? Why did you decide to give this name to your business?
The fact that the name Dicks Don’t Lie sounded perfect, isn’t just a coincidence. While I worked at the design agency in Maastricht, I also started an art project. I can’t say a lot about it, because I’m still working on it. But it involves a lot of research about the connection between emotions and the visual state of a dick. The conclusion is also that a dick is what it is, sometimes it looks amazing and you want to show it to the world, other times it looks a bit meh.. and you can immediately link it to how you feel. This will be the title of my upcoming book: Dicks Don’t Lie. And I will tell more about the name and the research in it. So still a bit of a secret. I also love to answer my business calls like this “Hello, Roger speaking from Dicks Don’t Lie”! The reactions are incredibly funny.
Your brand celebrates bubble butts and legs, cute dicks, juicy boobs and other parts of the body that are usually considered taboo body parts to demonstrate. Is your brand a tribute to sexual freedom and the human nature?
Not particularly sexual freedom, but freedom in the greatest understanding of the word. I think society is getting more and more prude every year. People over-sexualise nudity and link it to rape, sexual assault and other bad things. I think the nude body is something to celebrate. Every body is different and gorgeous in it’s own way. Embrace your hairs, funny nipples, bum, genitals, etc. and don’t be afraid what people think of it. Nudity isn’t something bad or scary, but something liberating, funny and cute.
I would also like to see brands part from celebrating women with body empowering products, to also celebrate masculine people. I think body hair, nipples, bellies, buts, dicks are as glorious and cool als tits and fannies. Gay/Bi/Straight/Pan/Asexual/Everything; enjoy your sexuality, your body, explore it, talk about it and have a great laugh. In my brand it’s always searching for the right staying classy, cheeky, taboo-free and hilarious at once.
I have read than since you were a child you expressed your admiration to the human body and sexuality. What is it on a human body that mostly attracts you?
I love looking at dicks, hairy legs and chest hair! A bit of chest hair or a nice bulge really can make my day. I don’t know how, but I can remember liking this already since I was 4 years old. I just love nudity in general and the taboo around it. I also love to provoke a lot since I was a child, just to let people think about subjects in an other way. I’m always searching for other ways to look at subjects. Everything can be seen in different ways and we need to respect that.
The only thing that we can do is educate each other and hope people think in a way that doesn’t harm other people, animals and nature. For example, when i was in kindergarden, my parents were called into school, because the teachers questioned my view of the world. I was always drawing dicks and tits on my puppets. I thought it was super funny, but my teachers thought I was abused or something. This is exactly what inspired me to do Dicks Don’t Lie. People link nudity to abuse and porn (nothing wrong with porn though), but I think my brand is much more innocent.
What are your inspirations behind your designs and who are the people you admire?
When I was young I always fantasized about how my body will look like when I grow up. So, looking at my body changing through puberty (and even now that I am over 30 it is still changing), I feel inspired. I also love how children draw, so I get a lot of inspiration in the way they make lines without overthinking them. Addtionally, I can’t design without stories. Everything should have a reason or meaning, otherwise I think it isn’t necessary to show. I love the way Bruno Munari talks about design. His way of thinking really hits the same spots as I think that is important for a designer.
I think that your butt and penis pins are the ultimate gay accessory! Why are we as gays fascinated with phallic and anal symbols?
My products are for everyone, not just for gays particularly. There are also a lot of women wearing the Hairy Butt pin with pride, and straight men with the Dick in a Box pin on their suit. I think my brand connects the LGBTQ+ world with the straight world. I don’t like to see these worlds as two separate things. We all love the same things, so why don’t share them?
I think a lot of gay people are attracted to my products because they also see the beauty of the masculine body and they love to make statements. I think they will recognize themselves a lot in the way I think and want to communicate it to the world with my designs. My designs are also cute and artsy instead of vulgar, so I think it normalises talking about subjects that are normally difficult to talk about.
I also put Dicks Don’t Lie stickers in every order, so people can spread the word. I love it when I see so many nice posts on Instagram of people sticking them to their phone or in the streets.
How do you explain the popularity of your brand in the LGBTQ+ community?
I think because of the fact that my products are open to interpretation. My brand has no gender, race or any over-sexualised feeling over it. My moto is “Talk freely without prejudice and stay curious, cheeky & learn/inspire each other”.
How has social media and Instagram boosted your career?
A lot! I always quote Brain from the Pinky & the Brain; “I want to take over the world”. I think it’s so cool nowadays that we can reach the whole world via social media. Even in this case with YASS magazine, I could never imagine that I would be featured in a London- based magazine, just one year after starting my brand. It’s so nice to meet and talk to so many different people around the world. Everyone has a different background and culture, but luckily everyone feels the positive energy, and I love how the family of Dicks Don’t Lie ambassadors grows.
How important is environmental sustainability for your you and your brand?
Very important! I want to design products that last long. Great quality, vegan and sustainable materials like organic cotton, recycled paper, etc. Also a lot of prints are made locally. The apparel is printed in fashion capital Antwerp in Belgium and the screen prints are hand printed by Atelier Haven in Maastricht. Even my packaging is printed by hand by my friend of Atelier Haven (@atelierhaven). So, I keep the chain small and search for the most sustainable materials possible. I just started and an independent small brand andI’m still learning and searching for possibilities that are even more sustainable, without losing my quality and personal touch.
-How do you see the future of Dick Don’t Lie? What shall we expect from you?
I hope there will be cool stores in the biggest cities around the world selling my products. So, if there are people with cool concept stores reading this, please send me a message, I’m always searching for new cool shops to sell my products. My product range will expand in the future, of course there will be new pins, greetings cards and screen prints, but I also want to increase my apparel range and maybe even new kind of products, like ceramics, home wear, etc. At the top of my wishlist is to make iconic Dicks Don’t Lie underwear, so stay tuned!
-Has a dick ever lied to you?
NE-VER
-Tell us something cheeky about you!
I love love making & receiving Dick Pics!! haha 😛
#staycheeky
More of Roger and Dicks Don’t Lie here:
YASS Magazine 