Element Eden Advocate Amber B is an Australia native and has served as an inspiration and ambassador for the brand since 2006. Her whimsical sewn creations have traveled the world and her most recent endeavors have brought her to Canada as part of the “Smile on Your Brother” exhibition. Sponsored and curated by Contributor, this traveling show has brought together skateboard art by some of the industry’s leading artists with the goal of raising money to distribute skateboards to disadvantaged youth across Canada. Here is Amber’s experience in her own words:

How did you become involved with the Contributor cause?
“Smile On Your Brother” was co-curated by Mike Giles and Annie Lam from the Canadian charity CONTRIBUTOR and Bob Kronbauer of Club Mumble. They invited a selection of international artists, and I was lucky enough to be asked to be part of this project.

“Smile On Your Brother” raises money to give skateboards to disadvantaged youth – how did this vision speak to you?
For me skateboarding was about freedom to do and go where I wanted to as a kid, but I also love the aspect that skateboarding teaches you to push yourself, to learn new things and keep achieving to be better. This is a wonderful lesson that empowers people at any age. Giving children an opportunity to take up skateboarding is a wonderful outlet that exercises their mind and body. Skateboarding can be a social experience or an escape, all of which that can be done almost anywhere.

What’s the inspiration behind your board design?
We were all given these beautiful, hand crafted, vintage shaped, oak skateboards to customize how ever we wanted. A modern skateboard shape is commonly referred to as a popsicle because of its resemblance to a popsicle stick, so I wanted to play with that concept. And so, I sewed the board into an actual popsicle. Yes, it’s literal, but I loved the idea of combining the childhood memories of skateboarding and ice cream.

Your creatures often have wonderful names – does this latest little guy have one?
Yes, his name is “Neo Popsicle”. “Neo” meaning new, but also being short for Neapolitan ice cream.

What will be the next exciting project from Amber B?
At the moment I’ve been working on a lot of private commission jobs which I’ll post here and there on the Eden blog for you guys to check out. I also have a couple of group shows coming up, some fun photo projects, and most exciting, is a solo show next year. So I am currently up to my ears in sewing.

For more information about Smile On Your Brother visit:
www.wearecontributors.com