Atelier notebook · Issue № 1

Veronika Fumian · Milliner near Tübingen

Hats made
only once.

Your hat is made for your head, your occasion, your style — by hand, in a small workshop near Tübingen. Tell me where you’d like to wear it. We’ll work out the rest together.

Write to me Moments from the workshop on Instagram

Veronika Fumian, milliner — wearing her red hat with beaded embroidery

made by hand in Gomaringen

№ 01

Take a look around — six pieces

This is how your hat might one day look. These six were made for other people — yours will be drawn from scratch, for your head and your occasion. And it begins the way every one of them did: with a sketch.

Red felt hat with a black grosgrain ribbon on the wooden hat block in the workshop — still without its beaded edge — The beaded edge

Felt hat with a beaded edge

Felt · beaded edge and grosgrain ribbon · one of a kind

Black leather hat with a hand-gathered crown band and a wide, rolled brim — The gathering

Leather hat, gathered

Leather · gathered crown, rolled brim · one of a kind

Straw hat with a woven pattern

Straw · on the wooden block · one of a kind

Hand-painted child’s hat in wool felt with watercolour marks, sweeping beadwork in rainbow colours and a lilac binding at the brim, held in the hand — Almost finished

Child’s hat, hand-painted

Wool felt · painted and embroidered · one of a kind

Cream straw hat on the wooden brim block, pinned all the way round, with a brick-red ribbon — The workbench

Straw hat on the block

Second-hand straw · pulled over the wooden block · one of a kind

Leather cap with a peak

Leather · peak, lining in cotton damask · one of a kind

Veronika Fumian wearing her red hat with beaded embroidery

Would you like to see where the six were made?
Do come and have a look.

About me

I am Veronika Fumian,
and millinery is my passion.

I grew up in the Allgäu and now live with my family in Gomaringen – where my creations take shape, up in the attic.

Ever since I was a child there has been this urge to make beautiful things, and a constant stream of ideas. After finishing school I went to Reutlingen to pursue my passion for fashion design, and a few detours later I found my way into a small hat atelier in Esslingen – and I knew at once: this is what I have to learn!

What excites me is how versatile headwear can be: a hat transforms you, and it can become part of how you express who you are. That is what I would like to offer you.

It is not only as a mother that I care about our environment and about using our resources sustainably. That is why one-of-a-kind pieces, upcycling and craftsmanship are at the heart of my work.

Have you caught hat fever too? Then do have a look around – and write to me whenever you like.

Veronika Fumian in her atelier, holding a finished straw hat

№ 02

The atelier near Tübingen

A warm welcome to my workshop in Gomaringen. This is where the wooden blocks stand, where the felt steams, where the sewing and the beadwork are done by hand.
And if you like, this is where your hat will soon take shape.

Seen over her shoulder: Veronika sewing the beaded edge onto the brim of a straw hat

Backlit, her hand sets buttons and glass beads along the edge of the brim

The ingredients for your hat

The materials I work with:

Wool and fur felt
Straw
Leather
Ribbons
Linings
Beads
Feathers
Fabric flowers
Veiling

Pulled over the block by hand

Tools handed down for generations:
the wooden hat block.

№ 03

The journey to your hat

You don’t need to bring anything but yourself — we’ll work it out together
in four steps, and you have a say in every one.

1
Getting to know you

We talk about the occasion, your wardrobe, your hair — and about what suits you. I can often tell at a glance what suits someone. Write to me, or drop by. And do bring someone with you.
2
Drawing

Before a single stitch is made, you see your hat on paper — so that you can picture yourself in it. I sketch a few options for you — and we only move on when you say, “That’s the one.”
3
Making

Now it is my turn: your hat takes its shape — steamed, blocked, dried, sewn, just as your material demands. And right at the end come the trimmings: ribbons, flowers, veiling, beads, sewn on by hand until everything is just right.
4
Taking it home

Then your hat goes into its hatbox — you collect it, or I send it to you. The drawing from the very beginning goes with it, together with a few tips on how to store it, so that you can enjoy it for years to come.

Three questions almost everyone asks

How long does it take?

I take my time over your hat. Reckon on about four weeks, a little more when the season of village festivals comes round. If you are getting married, allow more still — that leaves room for a second fitting. It is best to ask in good time.

And what does a hat cost?

I’ll tell you as soon as we know what we are making. Your hat is made only once, for your head and your occasion — a price printed here could never be right for your hat. Once we’ve talked about what you have in mind, I’ll give you the price. And nothing is added that we haven’t talked about.

And if you live far away?

Then I come to you. Home visits are by arrangement — at home it is easiest to see what suits you and your wardrobe. And if the distance is too great, a great deal can be done from afar as well: with a tape measure, a photograph and the post.

From the workshop, in time-lapse

“Between the first stroke and the last stitch.”

Here you see a hat coming off its block: the pins have held, the felt has taken the shape — and now the hat stands on its own for the first time. What began on paper is a good deal closer to being finished.

Drawing from Veronika’s sketchbook: a bride with a lily and a veil — straight from the sketchbook

Drawing from Veronika’s sketchbook: a headpiece with butterflies above a net veil — straight from the sketchbook

№ 04

What shall it be for?

Whatever you would like to wear it for — in the end what matters is that you recognise yourself in it.
Sometimes someone puts a hat on and knows at once: that’s me. That is the moment we are looking for, together.

Weddings & special occasions

For brides and for guests: gossamer veiling, flowers, delicate headpieces — matched to the dress and to your hair. And just as much for a day at the races, a garden party or a milestone birthday. Come to me in good time, and we’ll have time for all the beautiful details.

Tradition

From the Trachtenhut, worn with traditional Swabian dress, to the Vereinshut of a village band or club: I make new ones and restore inherited hats — in a club the hat is often handed down from your predecessor, and their head was usually smaller. Bring it to me — a whole club’s worth if you like.

Everyday

Simply a hat for perfectly ordinary days — which suddenly feel a little different for it.

Brown felt hat with a two-tone leather band, in the sun on the hat block in the garden

№ 05

A second life for good hats

When it changes heads. Your grandfather’s fine hat, an inherited Vereinshut — often it is not a new hat that comes to a head, but a different head that comes to the hat. That can nearly always be put right: I stretch it or take it in, change the ribbon, freshen it up. The inner band is renewed every time — new for your head. Just bring it along.

When it is past saving. Then I make you a new one that looks just like it. The Trachtenhut here had been worn for decades — as a copy it goes on wearing its badges, and with them the story that hangs on them. That way nothing is lost: not the hat, not the custom, not the memory.

The same Trachtenhut before and after restoration: worn and stained at first, then deep and even again — the cord and the badges stay — This is how grandfather’s hat came to me. And this is how both went home — the old one and the new.

This is how grandfather’s hat came to me. And this is how both went home — the old one and the new.

Upcycling — old straw and felt hats are waiting in my store to become something new, a good many of them from theatre stock. You don’t need to bring anything of your own: choose whatever takes your fancy and I will make your hat out of it — it comes with a history of its own, and no one else will wear what becomes of it. And if you have such a treasure yourself — from your grandparents, from the attic? Do bring it along.

The most sustainable hat is the one that lasts.

Hats made only once.