The wonder of social media is that it grants us a window through which we can peer into people’s lives, both professionally and personally. This can help us understand brands more deeply and guide us in making purchases from companies based on whether their values align with our own.
Pictures often remain glossy and companies curate their content with a strategy in order to reinforce their brand personality. It is also true that people have varying comfort levels when it comes to creating content. Don’t we all just want to put our best foot forward?
When I take a moment to scroll through my Facebook or Instagram feeds, the posts that stand out to me have two prominent aspects, they are creative and vulnerable.
As a child of the pre-internet days, it’s not a natural impulse for me to open up and share online. Yet I admire those who do, and I thought maybe it’s time for me to give it a try myself.
I’ve been making hats for over a decade now and it’s never been my sole source of income. I’ve often worked multiple jobs, juggling my own small business along the way.
Why am I sharing this? Simply because this is me, it’s real, and the three studios I work in are worth the mention.
Photo: Keith Haist
My home studio is a dedicated space that I’ve carved out in the small apartment I share with my husband in Toronto, Canada. There is no way of denying it, it’s tiny. Yet I have things set up in a way that makes it highly functional and remarkably easy to produce creative work.
I do need to be very thoughtful about anything I bring into my workspace and have a dedication to finishing projects as I can’t have things sit around for too long. This is the perfect example of how working within limitations is entirely possible.
At times, space limitations can feel frustrating, but my passion for crafting good design and quality product far outweighs the dance I do to make it all work. Of course, I have dreams of occupying a larger studio space sometime in the near future and look forward to when I can expand, literally.
Twice a year I work on my hat collections: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. From those collections, I supply a few shops in New York, Toronto and Victoria. All year round, I make hats for clients, focussing on custom orders and special requests.
Being creative is a joy for me and I can’t imagine spending my days without my hands being busy.
Catherine Langlois and I, in her custom bridal studio.
The Catherine Langlois Bridal Atelier is bright, spacious, feminine and very pretty with white and pink decor. There are always multiple gowns in process, decorating the dress forms with designs that any modern romantic would swoon over.
Catherine uses the finest materials, and her dress silhouettes range dramatically. Some dresses are short and sweet, many are slim, sleek and sophisticated, and of course, there are the dresses made from layer upon layer of fabric; ball gowns that stepped right out of a fairytale.
I assist Catherine in sewing the dresses. I hand-stitch the finishing touches and help with the overall construction. There is plenty of variety in my work, it is pleasurable, and I learn a lot along the way.
Often when I take a moment to lift my head up and take in my surroundings, I feel that I am in a Parisian dressmakers studio at the turn of the 20th century. How can I not take delight in this?
Catherine creates multiple collections a year, as well as works on the unique designs dreamt up by her blushing brides.
Back to hats and another assisting job, this time it’s with David Dunkley in his Fine Millinery shop.
In my own work, I focus completely on street wearable hats. In Davids’s world, it’s all about event styles. We’ve reflected many times that this is the main reason why we can work together and not take on a competitive attitude. We come from such different mind-sets that it works well for both of us.
He loves feathers, flowers, and drama! Big is usually not big enough. Which always makes me laugh, as I am continually pushed outside of my comfort zone when assisting with his creations.
His studio is packed with everything you can imagine! If you think of it, he’ll have it hidden somewhere. I never quite know what I’m getting myself into when I arrive at the shop as his creative mind stretches much further than my own.
The sewing is technically challenging because materials can be dense and thick, there might be awkward attachments or stitches that need to be hidden but would likely show. Somehow we always find a way.
David works on multiple collections a year, stocks the storefront, and attends to clients. He is the official Milliner of the Queen’s Plate, a horse race in Toronto. Prepping for that celebration is often months of hard work ahead of time.
If you love to wear fascinators, he’s the man to see.
