My hat making journey began in 2020 whilst studying for a history degree where I found myself in need of a creative outlet to break-up the reading and writing.  I had always enjoyed creative pursuits, be they woodwork, sewing, or graphic design, and with an obsessive interest in the fashions of the 1920s and 30s, and having long been a hat wearer, I was naturally drawn to hats.

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With some woodworking experience I cobbled together my first block from offcuts and scraps of wood, and purchased more or less the cheapest felt hood I could find. There was plenty of room for improvement but overall I wasn't wholly disappointed by my first attempt. The next hat was a commission from a relative. Having struggled to find the perfect 1940s style 'Stetson' in Britain he asked if I would give it a go and I gratefully accepted the challenge. The end result met with approval and I had well and truly caught the bug for hat making.

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Academically I came to focus on the eighteenth century Atlantic world, particularly the fur trade in North America, and the immense power that the pursuit of the finest quality hats wielded historically. My interests were rapidly converging and it was not long before I produced my first c.1770s cocked hat. Applying the forensic approach to research that I developed at university to hat making meant that no historical detail was missed. My portfolio of historical hats has grown outwards from its eighteenth century origins and now ranges from the Restoration period all the way through to the early twentieth century where my contemporary bespoke hats meet the historical.

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This academic background has also laid the foundations for our historical consultancy service, advising film, television and theatre on questions of historical headwear and costuming more generally. 

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The key advantage of making everything completely by hand the traditional way is that I maintain total control of that process. Since those first hats I have always strived to create hats of the finest quality, and this uncompromising mission remains the guiding principle of all my work.

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