Sunday, September 18, 2011

Stepping back in time ...

Down the street from our little shop is an amazing shop called "Optimo hat works"  owned by Grant Sergot . The other day I stopped in for a visit and came out an hour later with tons of  photos and a new passion for hand made Panama hats. I have never been in a more beautiful shop ! Hence the reason I wanted to share these images with everyone. One feels like they have stepped back in time  over a  hundred years ago and yes almost every thing Grant uses  to form these hats is from the 1800 and early 1900 hundreds  . He also fitted me for a hat using one of his many strange antique contraptions .Well I hope you enjoy these images.  PS Grant's  lady friend  makes hand cut rubber stamps . Hope to visit her soon too !!














types of bows you can select Grant  only uses vintage ribbon.

A very amazing hat  hand woven into a  very  tight weave. Grant gets the basic   hat forms form artisans  in south america and then he forms  them into what  ever style you want  and stretches  them to the  exact fit of  your head . 







Notice the weird scary bumps on the side of the pattern  taken from my head. Am I growing horns ????

9 comments:

Createology said...

This is truly an amazing shop and I am quite amazed at the very unique and specialized equipment he has. How fun to have your head measured and then have a hat made custom just for you. Fabulous!!!

Georgina said...

I love it, Julie, especially the "hairy hats!" LOL

Cindi Myers said...

Very cool!
Hats never seem to fit me, my head is too large! :)
but I love seeing his shop.
I love that each one is handmade for each person.

Jingle said...

Wow! What a wonderful and magical place! I would love to visit such a fabulous shop!

Lorie said...

Very cool! So many of his tools and props are very steampunky. I look forward to seeing your custom-made hat. xo

Ella said...

Those bumps are your mind ticking away! This was amazing; thank you for sharing! How unique and special to time travel like this~ xXx

jone hallmark said...

super COOL!
can't wait to see your hat......

xo

Elizabeth said...

WowWowWow!!!!What fabulous photos of a wonderful shop!! Just your kind of steam punky style with all of those antique hat contraptions- so beautiful!!! How delightful to have such a dedicated artisan right down the street!!! Such fun and thanks so much fro sharing!!!

Sue said...

Looks like a great place to explore. My Tom keeps trying on hats every time we go into a shop where they're for sale but none of the suit him.