The artist behind Dope
The long way to Dope.
For two years, Stitch had a paddle in his head that he couldn’t put in your hand. A dark face, framed in reflected gold. He knew how he wanted it to look. Finding a way to make it was another matter.
To him, that sliver of gold was the reason to make the paddle in the first place.
01 / THE MEMORY
A racquet he never forgot.
Before pickleball, there was competitive baseball, then racquetball. Somewhere along the way, a metallic gold finish racquet caught Stitch’s imagination. The look stayed with him.
When he began imagining his own pickleball paddle, he returned to that memory. Gold against a dark face. Light moving around the perimeter as the paddle turned in a hand. He could already picture it.
A sporting object could carry a memory. Now he had one he wanted to make.
02 / THE PLACE
Vegas gave it a name.
Las Vegas was a home away from home for Stitch and his best friend. Walking through its casinos together, they imagined a paddle that might help them become high rollers themselves.
The name held the ambition of two friends with something to build. The city gave it a setting: black, gold, reflected light, the familiar shapes of playing cards. A whole atmosphere to take back to the drawing board.
High Roller began to feel like a place you could hold in your hand. Making that feeling tangible would be the hard part.
03 / THE WORK
“I was told by dozens of people it was impossible.”
That is how Stitch remembers the response. The picture in his head was clear; the path to it kept coming up short.
He worked with manufacturers and tried different materials and finishes. Getting a metallic finish onto the edge was one challenge. Getting the appearance right was another. Tens of thousands of dollars went into the search.
All of that effort was concentrated on a narrow strip around a paddle. From a distance, it might seem like a small thing to hold up an entire launch. For Stitch, releasing a version he wasn’t happy with meant giving up the very detail that had made him want to begin.
So he waited. And kept working.
In summer 2024, he finally had a result he was proud to release. Something he felt was actually Dope. The gold he had carried in his imagination was there, around the edge of a real paddle.
04 / THE WORLD
A world inside the case.
The paddle gave the collection its starting point. Stitch carried High Roller into the things around it: the pattern inside the case, the towel’s gold trim, the leather keychain, the embroidery on a shirt.
Some details reach further back. The diamond formation in the pattern and end cap holds the cofounders’ shared baseball history. It is a quiet reference inside a collection named for Vegas. Both places belong to the story.
You meet the collection a piece at a time. First the paddle. Then the things you notice while packing your bag. Explore High Roller.
05 / THE SIGNATURE
Four stitches, close to the hem.
Look near the bottom of the black High Roller shirt. Four linked gold Xs sit above two fine rows of stitching. A small mark, in a place you might only notice when you put it on.
Product. Community. Mission. Artist. Those are the four ideas the mark holds together.
Stitch’s interest in textiles gave him a name for the work he wanted to do: bring separate pieces into something that holds. The object, the people who use it, the reason for making it and the person behind it. Here, that thought is sewn into the cloth.
06 / YOUR TURN
Eventually, it leaves his hands.
A finished piece leaves the studio and enters a life the artist can’t plan. Your bag. Your court. The friend who asks to take a closer look.
Stitch began with a remembered racquet and an idea he shared with his best friend. Now you get to make your own associations. A place you played. Someone you met. A game you still talk about.
That is a good life for something made with this much care.