Maor Zabar Hats
How did you become a hat lover?
I’ve always loved hats. As a teenager I remember playing with makeup to create these weird hats. After completing my design studies, I decided to become a costume designer, always finding ways to incorporate headwear into each look. It felt like a necessity in my designs, an essential part of my work.
Describe your creative process, from start to finish.
Usually, when designing a collection, I start my research looking for inspiration. It starts by looking at art history, fashion, nature, and talking with other designers I meet on my travels. I'm constantly open to absorbing my surroundings. My work as a costume designer in theatre is an excellent source of inspiration, the themes and techniques that I am exposed to are fascinating to me.
After collecting images, I start sketching. Using mood boards to think about the materials or the techniques that I'm going to use. Both the methods and materials are fundamental to my work. That's a massive part of my creative process. I always try to be innovative and develop new techniques. Even though I create hats in the traditional way, I try to find new ways to make hats. This approach is vital for me.
What do you love most about making things with your hands?
Often the materials used will dictate the inspiration of my work, and they lead the way. I enjoy discovering new materials and letting them speak through me to create unique shapes and ideas with my hands. That's a massive inspiration for me. I love working with every type of material, whether it's fabrics like silk or linen, or materials like felt or straw, whether plastic or thermoplastic.
I love painting, I began my career as an artist. I have always painted and sculpted, and painting is a massive part of my life. I enjoy using this skill to create unique designs by painting on my hats.
How has living in Israel influenced your creative process?
Israel is not known for its headwear. It's hard to find any suppliers that sell the materials I need. And it's imperative to get the raw materials, or it is impossible to make the hats, so I have to import everything. If that's not an option, I have to improvise because it can take too long for materials to arrive. So, I try to develop new ideas and new ways to make my creations. Sometimes I find alternative supplies or alternative materials. And actually, I think that's what makes my work more creative. I enjoy discovering new ways to work.
Israel is a hot-tempered country. People are loud and colorful, and everyone is direct and in your face. This has impacted the way I work and express myself. Israel is a complicated country regarding politics, war, and anxiety. And I try to avoid that by making my work more colorful and humorous. I don't like dealing with reality. I use my work as escapism. I always keep busy, and my social media presence helps with that.
How has social media influenced your business journey?
My existence is primarily because of social media. Because when I started creating hats, I used to post photos of them on my Etsy store or my website, and later on, I began working with Facebook and Instagram. And as more and more people got exposed to my work. I started to get more invitations, and bloggers and journalists began to write about me. I traveled to showcase my work in exhibitions and teach workshops all over the world. My social media exposure is a massive part of my business. I have to be thankful for that. If I had relied on clientele in Israel, it would be pretty tricky because Israel is not known for its millinery. Not many people wear hats, especially not the creative and artistic hats I design. Social media exposed me to the world and enabled me to have a worldwide business with lots of travel and an international clientele.
It's tough to answer what I enjoy the most in my journey because I appreciate everything. The creative process, making my hats. I especially enjoy traveling all over the world and meeting new people, and discovering new ways of working. I love my work as a costume designer, both inside and outside Israel. It's a joy to combine my businesses. I believe I'm blessed, as I'm delighted to do what I do, and I want to keep doing that.
Tell us about your favorite hat.
I don't think I can answer that because my hats are like my children, and you can never pick your favorite child! But if I really must choose, it's probably one of my food hats. I enjoyed making them and working on the project. Yeah, wow, it's difficult to answer.
What projects are on the horizon?
I'm working on a project in Austria in Salzburg; I'm designing the costumes for a ballet. And in September, I'm going to be teaching workshops in Tennessee for the millinery meetup. I'm working on another costume project in Israel. And I might be in England in April, for another workshop.
My most important project is publishing my book about food. I created a series of 60 food hats, which will be showcased alongside recipes from incredible Israeli chefs. It combines a cookbook with an art book, and all the profits of this book will be donated to a charity that provides food for the needy. I feel blessed, and I want to give back to society. I'm so thrilled and emotional about this project. I've been working on this for two years, and it's still ongoing. We're starting our fund fundraising campaign in a month from now, and hopefully, we're going to raise enough money to enable us to donate as much as possible. So yeah, this is the most exciting project in the pipeline.
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