Issue 62, May 2011 Next issue due 18th May, 2011 HATalk the e-magazine for those who make hats In this month’s HATalk... Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: An interview with the brilliant Jasmin Zorlu. Hat of the Month Cup of Coffee by Bridget Bailey. How to… Heidi Lawton shares her techniques with a fascinator block. The A to Z of Hats... U & V hat terms. Plus – Letters to the Editor, this month’s Give Away and The Back Page. Published by how2hats.com click here to turn over i Issue 62 Contents: May 2011 Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: an interview with Jasmin Zorlu. Hat of the Month Learn about this lovely hat and something about Bridget Bailey, who created it. How to... Learn to use a fascinator block with Heidi Lawton - the first in a three part series. Reader Exclusive... A special offer just for HATalk subscribers. The A to Z of Hats... Learn some hat words beginning with U and Z. This Month’s Give Away We’re giving away three chic, little notebooks. Letters to the Editor This month - information on upcoming millinery competitions. The Back Page Interesting hat facts; books; contact us and take part! 1 previous page next page An Interview with... Jasmin Zorlu We recently asked San Francisco milliner Jasmin Zorlu, well known for her fabulously quirky and immaculately crafted hats, to tell us a bit more about her work. Jasmin, who also teaches freeform hat blocking workshops, is pictured below in one of her fish skin aquatic aviator helmets. How did you get involved in millinery and where did you train? Since the age of 11, I wanted to be a fashion designer. Right out of high school, I was accepted into a fashion design program at the Otis-Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. I didn’t want to go to LA, so I chose my backup school where I studied Liberal Arts. In my junior year, while studying Art History and Studio Arts at the University of Michigan, I took a theatrical millinery class and was hooked! It was then that I decided to move to New York City to study Hat Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Through a mutual friend, I set up an assistantship with Rod Keenan, a men’s fine milliner. He hand-blocks and hand-stitches his hats, so I got an amazing background there while taking a basic millinery class at FIT. Rod connected me to other milliners to work for, like the great theatrical milliner Woody Shelp. I also have worked for James Coviello and Tracy Watts when they needed some extra hands. Do you specialise in any particular styles of hats? I specialize in cloches and helmets in aquatic leather (Nile perch skin and tilapia), upcycled cashmere and merino and felt. I do brims occasionally, but find that I like the styles the 20s and 30s best. When I do make hats with brims, I love working with jinsin, sinamay and Paris cloth because the material has no limits and I can be very sculptural in my approach. What are your favourite materials? I try to be as eco-friendly as possible in my business. I love, absolutely love, working with aquatic leather. I started working with it ten years ago. I’ve used carp, Nile perch, tilapia and salmon. I like Nile Perch the best, because of the texture. It’s really strong and catches people’s interest right away because they’ve never seen it before. Photo: Spencer Hansen 2 previous page next page Do you use hat blocks? Ever since I started freeform hat blocking on a standard balsa hat block, I’ve not had a desire to collect blocks. Blocking with a felt hood, there are endless possibilities! I love teaching freeform hat blocking because I get to see what other people come up with, and sometimes I never even thought of it! I own only eleven different crowns and brims. Sometimes I just drape straw or cashmere directly on my head, luckily my head is shaped like a basketball, with no planes or ridges! Do you design individual pieces or related collections of hats? I do both. The collections I do for the stores I sell to and also for my customers, so that they can order the style in their size and color. Though… I love designing one-of-a-kind couture hats, especially in pairs. That way they can keep each other company at the store where I sell them. Hats have energy, a personality, just like people do. Two hats of the same material and color together are more powerful than one that stands alone. It’s just like that with people: when you see a 'Sweet Bonnie Bonnet' in Straw Model: Jenny Jones Photo: Karly Larson couple dressed fabulously, both wearing hats, it draws your attention more quickly and keeps it longer than when you see one person alone. What inspires your work? Well, I would like to say that I feel that I’m hooked into the creative energy of the collective unconscious, because, oftentimes, I’ll get a strong urge to make a design and then do it. When it’s released, several other hat companies have done the same thing. This happened in Fall 2007 when I did a hybrid of a fedora, garrison cap and Parisian firefighter’s cap for Goorin Brothers. I called itParisian Pompier. At the very same time, Kangol and Costume Nationale released their own versions of the Fedora Cap. In Fall 2008, Rike Feurstein in Berlin and I both did a one-piece blocked felt equestrian cap with almost the same style lines! The Art Deco Era, outer space, architecture, flora & fauna... they all inspire my work. I really like it when I look at someone’s hat and see something totally different because of the way it’s hanging onto his or her head. It’s an instantaneous flash, but I do carry a mini sketchbook, so I’m able to capture it. I also dream certain styles. It’s important to get everything down on paper; it makes room for new ideas to get funnelled through me. Do you have a personal favourite from amongst your own hats? I love a large sculptural black sinamay hat I once made inspired by smoke. It sold to a member of the Gallo winery family who preferred to remain anonymous. I also love my metallic lilac fish skin aviator helmet. It can cover any bad hair day and works perfectly under my bicycle helmet. 3 previous page next page You have a number of well-known clients – could you name a few? Erykah Badu, an American R & B singer, commissioned a felt hat style in fur felt Photo: Kristin Brynne-Costello ‘Molecular Mermaid Helmet’ I call Molecular Mermaid Helmet (right) from a hat boutique in New York City which I’ve been selling to for over a decade - The Hat Shop. I made it while I was taking a half-year break in Paris. It was in greens and blues, the color of the ocean. I didn’t get to meet her, alas, but I did see her in a video last year performing with it on. Tom Waits bought a fur felt blocked hat for his wife’s birthday and Neil Young bought a fake fur hat for his daughter, both from boutiques in the San Francisco Bay Area. A California Assemblywoman bought one of my Asymmetrical Tyrolean Fedoras in Leopard print fur felt with a red silk band. She said that she was going to wear it on the floor when she spoke! Do you work from home, or do you have a studio or shop? At the moment, I work from home. In the past, I’ve had separate studios, which has worked out really well because I’m able to separate myself from my work and be super productive. When I went to my workshop studio, I knew that I had to work on the hats, and that’s all I did. Now that I have my worktable constantly staring at me, I want to work all the time, which can cut into my social life. Is your business full time? Part time? At the moment, I’m very blessed to say that it’s full time. It depends on how much I hustle, I’ve noticed. If I go out to an art opening and meet a woman who falls in love with my fish skin aviator helmet and says she wants one and then gives me her card, I don’t wait for her to contact me. I email her the very next day to set up an appointment to come to my studio to get fitted for the helmet. When I worked for Goorin Brothers as a freelance part time in-house women’s designer, I was able to be full time as well. Clothing and hat companies commission me to do cut & sewn hat design. I also teach hat making both in workshops and privately 3 to 4 times a year. Lately, I’ve been doing open studios once a month so that people can see what new work I’ve been doing and I can get instant feedback. Trunk shows and craft shows around the holidays are always big income earners. ‘Exploding Cocktail Hat’ in pleated Crinoline Model: Kaylin Andres in pleated Crinoline Model: Kaylin ‘Exploding Cocktail Hat’ Photo: Spencer Hansen 4 previous page next page Which part of your business do you enjoy most? I love satisfying customers who keep coming back for more.