“Recrafting our natural heritage toward a sustainable future.
My Italian forebears, like many originating from the rural communities of Lazio and Umbria, proudly lived and worked in harmony with their nature, and whilst hemp had been cultivated and utilised industrially across the world, the unique quality of the hemp linen produced in the mountains of my hometown Viterbo was world renown for its whiteness and purity and sold almost exclusively through the Venetian nobility that dominated world trade at the time.
The hemp linen included in this design is over 100 years old, passed down from my great grandmother, symbolising a literal thread to my heritage.
The fedora-style silhouette echoes the hats once worn by local shepherds and farmers of the region - practical, dignified and enduring, married with the embroidered embellishment paying tribute to the artistry of women’s handicraft and symbolising the skill and wisdom passed down through generations - each stitch a gesture of remembrance and respect.
This piece is more than an accessory, it is a tribute to ancestral knowledge, craftsmanship and the immemorial bond between people and land. It speaks of a sustainable future derived from a forgotten past. Made from an organically regenerative plant fibre, this hat celebrates a time-tested material that requires minimal water, pesticides or fertilisers, nourishing the soil as it grows. In embracing hemp and handcraft we honour both heritage and environmental responsibility, and a legacy of custodianship that has been forsaken in pursuit of ‘profit’ and perpetual growth.
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“Generations of my grandparents worked intimately with hemp, spinning, weaving and dying some of the most cherished fabric of its time, leaving me to inherit woven linens traditionally given for weddings and baptisms, along with their proud legacy.
I have incorporated some of this linen into my design along with modern, untreated hemp, literally threading together a forgotten past that needs remembering more now than ever. This hat is naturally very personal, representing not only my family’s history but hopes for a more sustainable, ecological future and embodying aspirations of reintroducing the incredible resourcefulness of hemp to high fashion and millinery through my work.
Hemp has been the most durable, ecological and versatile resource since becoming the first farmed crop over 10,000 years ago, offering literally 1,000’s of material uses from fuel to fabrics whilst positively contributing to the environment, replenishing and binding poor soil and sequestering 4x more carbon and producing 25x more oxygen than trees, creating a naturally durable, breathable, antibacterial and mould resistant material that has been prized and fought over throughout history, up until its conflated prohibition early last century, inspired by the ecologically disastrous industries which have thrived in its absence. Industrialisation has propelled us toward an existential crisis, but one which can be diverted by simply acknowledging the wisdom of our forebears, adapting our natural, ancient practices and heritage, crafting once again with the love, respect and value we should have for ourselves and the clothing we wear.
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