Hidden Hatters Photobook

 

Hidden Hatters is a photobook project undertaken in 2019 and inspired by the people of Hills Hats. At the time, it was one of the last handmade hat manufacturers, based in Petone, Wellington, New Zealand. Click on the image above to view the pdf.

Images from the project formed part of an exhibition shown in 2020 at the Petone Settlers Museum – Hills Hats: Enter the hatmosphere.

Hand moulding the distinctive ‘lemon-squeezer’, adopted as standard headwear in WII.

Hand moulding the distinctive ‘lemon-squeezer’, adopted as standard headwear in WII.

Creations are brought to life by people like Atish who has been cutting fabric for 24 years.

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Designs donned by ‘Hatman’, the alter-ego of Hills Hat’s co-owner, Smuts-Kennedy.