As a London Hat Designer and Maker, Where Do I Get My Inspiration From?
As a London hat designer, I am often asked the question where do you get your inspiration from as a London hat designer? As a West London milliner and artist, I take my inspiration from investigating different cultures. Growing up in West London in a vibrant multi-cultural area, I was lucky to be exposed to different festivals, celebrations, and traditions. I have many fond memories of celebrating Diwali, it is such a colourful celebration. Probably why my first hat collection Catch the Light, drew inspiration from India.
My inspiration as a London hat designer or this year’s millinery collection is coming from Japan.
The process of designing hats for me starts with researching the traditions, art, architecture, and nature of the country. I gather together images and colours that are mounted onto a large board for me to reference when designing.
Below is a section of the mood board from my studies of India, that the Catch the Light collection was inspired by.
During my studies of Japan, I was intrigued when I discovered the tradition of Kintsugi, the practice of mending broken ceramics with gold to repair the crakes. Japan was certainly ahead of its time with sustainability and I love the idea that something that could be looked at as worthless is turned into a precious object. I am working through ideas for how this is going to be reflected in one of my hat designs.
I have always admired the work of Katsushika Hokusai, the stylized landscapes, and the movement captured in his painting of the sea, I hope you will be able to spot this inspiration in my 2023 Millinery collection, as a London hat designer, I could have created a collection based on their work alone. Chinami was inspired by the painting Oki Nami Ura (Under the well of the Great Wave of Kanaga.
JAPANESE ART INSPIRATION
JAPANESE TRADITIONS INSPIRATION
HAT DESIGNER - CULTURALLY INSPIRED
JAPANESE NATURE INSPIRATION
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It very quickly became apparent to me that I could not complete a collection with inspiration from Japanese influences and not include cherry blossom, this delicate whist flouncy flower is a central motif in the countries worship of nature. They symbolise both birth and death, beauty and violence.
I decided it was only fitting to recreate such an important flower in the most luxurious fabric, silk. I commenced my study into the formation, shape, and colouring of the petals.
Templates were then made and lots of petals were cut, followed by the dying process, layering silk paint to the petals.
I hope everyone is enjoying these bright sunny days, I am so enjoying the signs of spring and the early bloom of the crocus flowers, whatever spring/summer event you are looking forward to, make sure you complete your outfit with a hat or fascinator. To arrange a non-obligatory bespoke headwear consultation call me on Tel: 07792484794 or use the contact form on my webpage.
Love and hats
Cheryl
Once I was happy with the colouration, the flowers were then constructed, attaching them to a vine simulating the branch of a tree.
These little beauties took in excess of four hours to create, but I am extremely happy with the end result.
