Even more inspiring then then Philip Treacy's millenary is his archive of hat blocks. I think they are truly beautiful and would have loved to be a fly on the wall when they were carved.
" The hats usually start off as drawings. Then I make a mock-up in very light flexible material called a sparterie and this goes to the block-maker. He then uses the model as a map, or perhaps a key, to carve the actual shape in wood, using some measurements, but mostly his eye. I depend on his desire to make his block look exactly like the form I gave him and his wish to capture every single nuance of the original shape, because in hat making let me tell you, even a fraction of an inch is crucial. It is all very precise". Philip Treacy
Images and quote taken from book: Philip Treacy by Fondazione Nicola Trussardi. Charta
