In episode 68 of the Close Knit podcast, I spoke to Nathan Ford. Nathan is an improvisational quilter, soft historian, and overall tender maker currently working in Kansas City, MO. Ford’s practice currently revolves around the intersections of queer history and his family history of labor in the Rust Belt. Ford creates quilts that incorporate traditional quilt blocks with unconventional materials to communicate issues of status, sexual desire, and personal identity. He has participated in...

In episode 67 of the Close Knit podcast, I spoke to Mckenzie Mullen of Emtothethird Yarn Co. Mckenzie is a queer, fat, Chicana, femme Granny Punk who currently lives in Portland, OR. She runs a small business, Em To The Third Yarn Co., which focuses on knitting, illustrations, and natural dyes. We talk about information sharing/gatekeeping in the textile community, queerness & zine culture, knitting as a mindfulness exercise, finding fruitful ways to connect on and offline, and making as...

hi friends! I wanted to give a little update about the close knit podcast and where we’re headed. I recently moved over to substack, which is where I’ll be writing a monthly newsletter and exploring a slightly more experimental practice that will include soundbites and other audio that I’m feeling excited about. At first, I thought I would post that more experimental work in the same place at the Close Knit Podcast, but it seemed right for this experiment to have its own little home that’s...

where do we begin? it's been a ~ time ~ we're collectively living through. i’m feeling a little frayed around the edges, like a piece of fabric that’s been through the wash. lately, i’ve been drawn to unraveling, literally and otherwise - unraveling things down to their fundamental parts - and i’m noticing that my relationship to close knit is in a state of transition. folks listening to, finding each other through, and enjoying the podcast has been the lifeblood of this work for me. i look...

In episode 66 of the Close Knit podcast, I spoke to Masego Morgan and Stella Hertantyo of cncs_ (pronounced “conscious”). I so cherished this conversation with these two - it felt like a wonderful space to sit in our uncertainty and be candid about no knowing what is next. Masego is a sustainable fashion advocate, residing in the suburbs of Cape Town. Currently doing her postgrad in Sustainable Development, while working as a creative strategist for a local South African brand called Good...

In episode 65 of the Close Knit podcast, I speak to Damien Ajavon. Based in Oslo, Damien Ajavon is a queer textile artist, born in France, of Senegalese and Togolese origin. Their work explores the different methods in which textiles fibres can be manipulated by hand: knotted, braided, tangled, and woven. The interaction between visual and tactile experiences has always played an important role in their process; they use their African and western influences as a vehicle for their textile...

In episode 64 of the Close Knit podcast, I speak to Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie. Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie is a multidisciplinary artist & community development worker based in nipaluna/Hobart, lutruwita/Tasmania. Her creative practice is responsive and explores belonging and cultural heritage in contemporary Australia, drawing on intersectional feminist theory and lived experience as an Asian-Australian woman. Emalia's work is both research and process driven and is based in mediums...

In Episode 63 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Zak Foster. Raised in rural North Carolina and now living in Brooklyn, New York, Zak is a self-taught textile artist whose work draws on Southern textile traditions while incorporating found fabrics and natural dyes. He practices an approach to design that is intuitive and improvisational and he is drawn to preserving the stories of quilts and specializes in memory quilts. His work has been featured in various magazines, websites, and...

In Episode 62 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Vivian Shao Chen. Vivian is a potter, sewist, and knitter, and architect by profession. The order of that list changes frequently.  She has been pursuing pottery for almost four years. She learned sewing from her parents when she was a child through their clothing manufacturing business. She picked sewing back up as an adult in the last 20 months or so, and now she has transitioned to drafting almost all her own garments. She taught herself...

In Episode 61 of the Close Knit Podcast, the first episode of 2021, I spoke to Francisco Diaz of Cisco Sews. Francisco is a multidisciplinary creative craftsman with a keen visual eye. A sewing newbie focused on second-hand upcycling and material transformation. Francisco aims to be constantly trying new things, sustain imperfect sustainability and remain queer af.

In Episode 60 of the Close Knit Podcast - the final episode of 2020, I spoke to Grace Rother, a lesbian quilt-maker and writer. I have long admired Grace’s practice - her way of making things accessible and her deep clarity on how she makes and shares. We talk about her quilt raffles this year, most recently culminating in her virtual quilting bee raising funds for Assata’s Daughters, an effort of more than 100 quilt-patch makers. Grace and I discuss the ways that textiles hold a softness for...

In Episode 59 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Carolina Jimenez. carolina is a mexican-american textile artist and designer living in brooklyn. she is currently the creative director at caroline z hurley and also maintains an art practice. she makes monuments - memory signifiers, vessels into which the past is poured, molded, or reshaped (woven, unraveled, or stretched). these monuments reference the body-my body and yours-they speak to the magnificence of our daily lived experience and...

In Episode 58, I spoke to Aisling Camps, Trinidadian born, mechanical engineer turned knitwear designer hustling out of Brooklyn. Aisling and I talk about her early days in NYC, working as an engineer on sustainability projects, and her desire to express more of her creativity, which led her eventually to a BFA program at FIT. We chat about her relationship to NYC and Trinidad and how her business was born on a couple of knitting machines back home in Trinidad after a visa ran out. Her work...

Sonya Philip is an artist, designer and teacher. In 2012, she started a project called 100 Acts of Sewing, making dresses while documenting the process. Since then Sonya has made it her mission to convince people to sew their own clothes. When not covered in bits of thread, she can be found fermenting, knitting or baking things. Sonya lives in San Francisco with her family.

In Episode 56, I spoke to Catarina Seixas of The Olive Trees and the Moon. Cat is a homesteader, maker, folk herbalist and mother living in rural Portugal. She likes to spend her days exploring her local flora, photographing and creating magic. Together with her partner, they've built their house by hand and grow nourishing food. It was such a joy hosting Cat - we talked about so many of the things that she and I have bonded over and questioned aloud on Instagram - from the “fast fashion...

This is Episode 54 of the Close Knit Podcast - today I am joined by Marcee + Hubbard Jones of Housework. With an obsession for manufacturing details and a strict set of material standards, the cofounding couple of Housework bring their unconventional backgrounds in fine art and health food together to bear a meticulously curated selection of clothing and home goods with care for every detail – down to things like the dyestuffs of garments, as well as the glazes of ceramics and finishes on...

This is episode 54 of the Close Knit Podcast, and this week I spoke to Sarah Nsikak of La Reunion Studio. I was introduced to Sarah’s work through a mutual connection a few months ago and I was immediately taken with her work. She centers stories of Africa in her work, bringing to life incredible dresses and tapestries that are full of color and made entirely of remnants & scraps. Sarah speaks to the ways in which COVID19 and social movements of this year have impacted her own work, and...

This is episode 53 of the Close Knit Podcast and today I am joined by Geana Sieburger, who founded GDS in 2015. Growing up in Brazil deeply influenced her work, a place where in the 80’s, bakeries could be found every few blocks and skilled seamstresses still sewed a good portion of people’s everyday wardrobes. Community was the connection between everything, including food and fashion. With both people and environment in mind, Geana's dream is for GDS to become a meaningful part of her...

The Close Knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation about the ways we use fiber to process life and world events You’re listening to Episode 52 of the Close Knit Podcast and this week I spoke to Gina Stovall of Two Days Off Clothing. ...

You’re listening to Episode 51 of the Close Knit Podcast and this week I spoke to  Sarah Danu of Danu Organic. You’ve probably noticed this year that I’ve focused a lot on clothing production and slow fashion in my interviews. I was thinking about this recently and I don’t know exactly why that is - it’s just been a curiosity that I’ve had, and I’ve followed it. It’s led me to so many interesting conversations with people producing clothing - from designers to makers, and I’ve learned so much...

Ani reads aloud 4 short essays she wrote last year on care-taking through making

You’re listening to Episode 50 of the Close Knit Podcast and this week I spoke to Mandy Kordal of Kordal Studio. Mandy is someone I have admired for so long - every singe collection she’s designed has just made me swoon, and it was such a treat to bring her onto the podcast this month. She walks me all the way back to her earliest memory of working with textiles - influenced by her grandmother and her mother, who are both talented designers and sewists. As has been my line of inquiry...

In episode 49 of the Close Knit podcast, I spoke to Charlotte X C Sullivan, one of two folks who run May West: a textile innovation collaboration between Charlotte and  Alayna Rasile-Digrindakis. Charlotte walks me through how May West formed, through connection and feeling, and how this has continued to inform their work with milkweed. We discuss the way that clothing, and fashion, can serve as armor, a way to cloak and protect yourself through circumstances in life. She explains to me how...