Shmelevsky
How did you become a hat lover?
My hat story began with a photo of the Street Etiquette stylists. Looking through their blog, I saw a stunning black hat on a red background in the Amish style. I wanted to buy a similar model but could not anything like it in Ukraine. While searching, I grew to like hats so much that I wanted to create them myself. At first, I thought it was a relatively simple process, but everything turned out to be precisely the opposite. I knew nothing about the creation of hats and had no experience in design. Just a huge desire to recreate the hat I saw in the photo.
It was challenging to find any information about Ukrainian milliners and their techniques. Eventually, I found an American community of hat makers from Los Angeles. The guys were very open to sharing their knowledge as they wanted to see what I would create. I sent them photos of my work and received constructive criticism and advice in return. In our communication year, I learned the basic techniques of sculpting a hat exclusively with your hands. The most important thing is that I learned how to do everything environmentally friendly without using chemicals.
Describe your creative process, from start to finish. Any challenges along the way?
My approach starts with the desire to create unconventional forms.
The process of creating a hat begins with the development of the shape. The felt capeline is steamed, stretched on the wooden base to provide the size, and dried for 8 hours. It is processed with sandpaper and burned to give the hat an extra soft finish and remove the felt remnants. Then comes the most exciting part, sculpting the form by hand. In the process, new models are born. Then I sketch the shape. Finally, I sew on the accessories. The production of one hat takes at least three days.
What project has made you the proudest?
I guess it is our debut collection, inspired by modern sculpture. I admire the laconic forms and lines of British sculptor Anish Kapoor and American sculptor Richard Serra. In our collection, I tried to rethink the classical forms of hats without depriving them of utilitarianism.
Each hat is handcrafted and created, without any blocks, in a manner consistent with the creation of sculptures, making each one a work of art. Also, by sculpting the shape of a crown by hand, it is impossible to make it the same, so each hat, becomes unique. We take a journey with every hat we make, so we love all our hats.
Sectional Body Preparing for Monadic Singularity by Anish Kapoor at his exhibition in Beijing
“Mars” hat is the first hat we tried to shape by hand and gave us the idea of what would be our DNA of unusual shapes. We love it for minimalistic and abstract form but also wearable.
You’re based in Ukraine; what is the creative scene like, and how has it influenced your craft?
Despite all the economic problems in the country, Ukraine has creative potential.
I like the new Ukrainian designers, such as Ksenia Shnaider, Sleeper, Frolov, and Lake Studio. They focus on the search for national identity and independence and overcoming the trauma of the Soviet years to write a brand-new history.
Unfortunately, hat culture is not as popular as it used to be. At the beginning of the 20th century, wearing hats was popular in the western part of Ukraine, but for 70 years of the Soviet regime, the country lost this tradition. We want to bring it back.
Each hat is created by hand. From the sketches to the finished product, the entire process is performed by the designer personally. Watch the process here.
How has business been during the pandemic? Did you learn anything new in lockdown that has benefitted your business?
The pandemic hasn’t had much of an impact on business as we do not have a showroom. We use Instagram, as it is a great way to show our products and inspire people to wear hats. We also use this platform to engage with our customers and build stronger relationships with them. For now, there are only two of us on the brand’s team: me and my brother Vlad.
From a financial point of view, the past year was even more profitable than the previous one. The main lesson that we have learned from this story is that you should be ready for anything.
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