Fresno, CA — Keryn Nicholson places a raw beaver felt material, what’s used to create cowboy hats and many other styles of hat, on the table. She sprays it with isopropyl alcohol and then lights it on fire. The process cleans off extra fibers to give the hat a smooth finish. It’s these little details that set Nicholson’s custom hats apart from what you see in big box stores. “Everything is made to order.” Nicholson is owner of Nicholson Hat Co. One of the only custom hatters in Central California. “They’re all made specific to each individual person. We look at face shape, skin tone, eye color, hair color. We ask a lot of questions!”
When Localish last visited Nicholson, she was working out of a room in a local art hub in Fresno. Four years later, she now has her own shop with everything she uses to make custom hats on display. She’s also seen success in being hired to create hats for luxury car brand Infinity and celebrities like singer-songwriter Jewel.
Nicholson has deep roots to the San Joaquin Valley and wanted to create a line of hats that celebrated the agricultural heritage of the valley. “I think it’s almost impossible to not to be inspired by nature.” That inspiration led her to connect with Brooke Luallen, owner of Smith and Len, a natural dye artist. “A natural dyer means that I like to create dye or color with plants, vegetables and even bugs,” Luallen explains.
Together they created the Shades of the San Joaquin, a collection of hats consisting of four colors, avocado, manzanita, pomegranate and stone fruit. The dyes are created using the source plant and boiled down over two to three days. Then the raw hat material, that is soaked in soy milk to act as binder, is submerged into the dye for three to four days, depending on how rich the color needs to be.
Nicholson and Luallen are seeing a lot of excitement around the new collection. “They’re excited to have another element that represents the San Joaquin Valley,” says Nicholson. “When somebody asks ‘how’d you get that color?’ Well actually it was dyed with local pomegranates!”
You can follow Nicholson Hat Co and Smith and Len on their Instagram accounts.
