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Rod and Ignatius share a 150-year-old mansion in Richmond. “It
needs major renovations, and we’re always torn between working on the house or
working on the business,” Rod admits. His studio is in a converted kitchen
building behind the 7,000 square-foot home, while Ignatius’ studio is in the
basement. For half the year they work exclusively in straw, using a
combination of wheat straw because of its resilience and, when they want to add
color, a Swiss synthetic braid (wheat straw doesn’t dye well). For the other six
months they use felt, partly because working with straw is so physically taxing
but also because, Rod says, “it helps our creativity if we take a break from
straw and use other materials.”
(e) Ignatius at work, surrounded by antique hat blocks. “One of my goals is
to learn woodworking so I can make my own,” he says. (f) Rod’s studio is full
of vintage mannequin heads and hats. “We’re always buying them as sources of
inspiration,” he says.
The partners often ply their craft for stage and screen, including a recent HBO
production about women’s suffrage, Iron Jawed Angels. The hats they designed for
stars Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston helped the show earn an Emmy nomination
for costumes. More recently, they’ve been teaching a summer course in hat making
at Pennland School of Crafts, outside of Asheville, North Carolina. “When I
started, there was no one to teach me,” Ignatius says. Rod adds, “It’s rewarding
to see people so enthused about what we love. We’re inspired by teaching—it
energizes our own creative work.” (g) The Harry Potter series inspired this wizard’s hat. “We once sold
one to an 80-year-old woman who wore it to the Ascot races in England,” Rod
says. (h) Another of Rod’s hummingbird hats. (i) An antique felt
stretcher.
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