THREADSTACK Interview with Writer/Knitter Amber Dorko Stopper, co-founder of Folkfuturism Collective
"Music is art, dance is art, sports are art, literature is art. So seems simple that craft should be art. But, what's craft? What IS craft?"
I am so excited to bring you the first of the THREADSTACK interviews, a regular feature that I hope will bring this community of Substack’s yarn and thread, fiber and fabric people together even more.
I know that I’m inspired by so many of the things shared here today by
, founding member of Folkfuturism Collective with partner . She gave some answers that surprised me, some that really resonated and a few that inspired me to look at things in a new way.My hope is that you are also inspired and that you’ll engage with Amber and each other - in the comments, in cross posts, in Notes, wherever. The more we get to know each other and support one another, the more powerful the THREADSTACK community can be. And I’ve personally seen amazingly powerful things happen in fiber arts groups.
So, let’s meet Amber!
Hi Amber, thanks for being here! Let’s start with a simple question (ha ha) … who are you?!
I am a writer and a knitter, although I will jump into any tutorial on any type of stitching. Needlework is very emotional to me. As a writer, I have discovered that adding text to my stitching can make it exponentially more significant to me. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
While I do write, and knit, alone, I have for over a decade made stitched sculptures, puppets, masks, and other public art installations with my partner, Tucker Collins. In 2025, Tucker will complete his PhD in Analytical Chemistry. His Master's degree is in Neuroscience and a lot of our recent (and incomplete!) projects are based on our neurodivergence. Tucker is autistic, as well as partially both blind and deaf. I have ADHD, and also have a congenital defect called a Chiari malformation, wherein my skull did not close up completely in utero, and my brain has slid back and down in the hole that should not be in my skull.
My children will graduate high school in 2026 and 2027. It's going to be a whirlwind for the next few years... and then, entirely new Mystery Lives for all of us!
I love the energy of knowing that something completely different is ahead. But let’s go back a little bit, what’s a little bit of your craft story?
I wrote and published many short stories from the time I was nineteen to my early thirties. I knit through that entire time as well, having taught myself around age 19.
One of my greatest dreams, since I was a teenager, was to have a life that allowed me to make Halloween costumes for my eventual children. I did it, and did a damned good job. I just can't believe that part of my life is over already!! But now my kids have interest in going to Cons and costuming, so it didn't just end.
What is one strong memory that you have related to crafting?
Working with Tucker on sewing a set of homemade handpuppets for the kids, based on characters from one of their most beloved family films, "The Lion in Winter". We gave them the incomplete set, which was the Christmas when they were eight. In 2024, we had decided to finish up what we'd started, conveniently half their lifetimes ago. While we made a LOT of progress, we didn't get them finished (yet).They are really great if I do say so myself. The idea that they will become even more fun when we finish making them -- that finishing making them is just the beginning of their lives -- is exciting.
Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to get things done quickly but I have found that there are certain WIPs like that which get finished later and end up having so much meaning because of it. My mom started a crochet blanket when I was young that she never finished it and I ended up finishing it myself as an adult when I was going through a really tough time.
Besides that memory, what is one of your favorite projects ever and why?
In I believe the summer of 2018, my girlfriend Meg and I rented Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church, and held a rock concert/science fair! There were traditional Science Fair exhibitions, and two bands (I can not remember the other band's name, but Meg's was Mystery Lab Bag).
And the best part was that we made -- Tucker, mostly, made -- an ENORMOUS tardigrade puppet that danced around the church auditorium like a Dragon puppet on Lunar year.
Also, this past Halloween we designed and made a very light cardboard backpack puppet, to honor Terry Hall of the Specials.We think HALLoween will be a permanent part of our Fall traditions now!
Do you have a story of a project that went wildly wrong?
Not yet...
LOL. That’s the best answer.
You talked before about needlework as emotional. I deeply believe that craft heals us and teaches us. How has that been true for you?
Even though I have experienced Moth Devastation in my own personal work, I feel that experience alone -- and knowing anything I make could be destroyed in a very short time, much shorter than it took to make it-- is a healthy lesson to always keep in one's head.
Wow. That’s something I hadn’t quite thought of in that way and it resonates in my heart.
I also believe that craft connects us. In what ways has it connected you to others?
It was so exciting to find those now-antique knitting blogs of the early oughts! There were times it led to friendships, or at least pals. But as in every little microcosm, it doesn't matter how similar or complementary the components are; if there are three or more of them, you've got a witch hunt. Everybody loves a witch hunt.
I feel like knitting and stitching with Tucker has given us one of our strongest mutual languages. There's just not enough time in life now, to make all the things we have talked about making!
What a wonderful thing to share with a partner!
I have always loved libraries because I enter them and realize that there’s no way I could ever read all of the books that I would like to read in this lifetime … and it’s made me want to live during times when my grasp on that was tenuous. So I love thinking about making in this way.
And ah yes the knitting blogs. Mine was a crochet blog, Crochet Concupiscence, and it connected me to so many people! It also gave me an excuse/reason/way to learn new techniques.
What craft - or technique in your craft - would you love to learn and why?
Because we plan on living in Great Britain in the future, I expect it would be very helpful if I could knit Continental style.
What craft or technique have you tried and don't really enjoy or haven't tried but really don't want to?
Spinning, and weaving, demonstrably. I had a loom AND a wheel, for years, and something about the making of the yarn felt very hollow. I'd make yarn if doing so is the only way I could knit....
I like to look at finished weaving but I have not yet enjoyed having to see all the mechanics of the loom.
We all love different parts of craft, don’t we?
If you could attend a craft party (quilting circle, sit and stitch, etc) with five people - living or dead, real or fictional - who would you choose and why?
Donald Fagan from Steely Dan -- I wanna see what's on his needles.
Anyone from Generation Alpha as soon as they can talk.
Marcel Proust, obviously.
Oh! Robert Webb. It would be comfortable, getting his opinion on swatches. I feel like I could ask him, "Is this what you pictured you'd be doing at this point in your life?" and he'd get it, and he'd be ready with at least a piece of the answer.
And, Greta Gerwig. I feel like Greta Gerwig would bring great energy to a craft party.
What do you call yourself - crafter? artist? maker? creative? knitter/quilter/etc?
Makers, and Public Artists, seem to suit us fine.
What are your thoughts on craft as art?
I don't have a lot of thoughts about this. Music is art, dance is art, sports are art, literature is art. So seems simple that craft should be art. But, what's craft? What IS craft? I think that my interest in the definition of "folk" activities or culture are where my tangent would start.
What is something you've written about your craft that you would like for us to read and why?
I think it's about two to three years from now that that piece will appear. First on my Substack, who knows where else?
Again, another surprising brilliant answer.
What has brought you to the THREADSTACK community?
I know that I can go to a museum exhibit and be moved by the themes and artifacts, but absolutely dissolve into tears over a pair of socks found in a bog. I would like to find other people who feel that way. There are so many things I wouldn't have to explain to them!
What do you most hope people will take away from reading your interview?
I don't have any expectations. I'd like a readership where people came away with different feelings or conclusions.
What is one question you would like to ask the people reading your interview?
I don't know who they are, so it's pretty hard to think of one question that would work for all of them.
That’s fair. Let’s talk about some of your favorite craft resources …
The Future is Disabled, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Engineers of the Imagination: The Welfare State Handbook
Paying it forward … Who are some of your favorite crafters and why?
I don't know if other makers I admire have strong opinions about the words "crafter" versus "artist". They seem fulfilled, creating and and sharing work, rather than hunting down someone else's definition of a single, subjective word.
Almost forty years into our friendship, puppeteer Kevin Augustine never stops amazing me as both an artist, and someone who is always looking to question his own previous convictions.
What else would you like to share before we end this interview?
Over the next couple of years Tucker and I will start creating public interactive pieces addressing the corrupt family court system. We will not be requesting consultation from the City, as to how or where to deploy these physical pieces, but I don't think we need to do a lot of planning. Our story seems to be writing itself so I presume it can promote itself too.
Do you have questions, responses, tangents that came to mind as you read this? Connect with Amber in the comments or over on
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