Asian Bamboo Hats

[Lee]

For years I would dread and or avoid summer outdoor flea markets, especially if it were bright and hot, as I did not enjoy the subsequent headache. The spring Brimfield market is usually tolerable in this regard, but on a visit about a decade ago, it was uncomfortable even at 7 am. In a stall where interesting things can usually be had at a reasonable price, there were two bamboo hats, $25 each or $40 for the pair. In desperation, I bought them and within the hour I then bought a spool of salvage edging from a closed factory for $2 and cut off a section to tie the hat on. Pride aside, on it went. The rest of the day was just fine despite being so unseasonably hot and bright, and this part of my outdoor flea market uniform has been fixed ever since. The friend I go with can spot me in an instant when I wander off and there will usually be at least one person at the market specifically looking for such hats as wall decorations - "If it makes you feel better, you missed it by 5 years." In any case, you have an easy way of recognizing me if our paths cross at a flea market.

It was obvious to me that it is from Asia, but I have not been able to narrow down the origin any further despite the wonders of the internet as I have not been able to match the style of construction in any of hundreds of pictures.

Clearly a lot of skill and effort went into the making of this hat. As can be seen from the photos below, for the outside surface, wide strips of bamboo form the crown and these are then split and interwoven as they radiate out and then adjacent split pairs are seen to rejoin together as one strip in the peripheral two inches or so. There appears to be a thin layer of varnish on the bamboo. Between the outer layer and the inner layer, there is a sheet of what appears to be rice paper that has absorbed the varnish in a patchy manner. The inside layer is of a more common loose 'hexagonal' weave. The hat weighs 8 1/2 ounces and has a diameter of 18 inches and brim to crown elevation of six inches.

The other hat bought at the same market shares many of the construction features, but also has distinctive differences, and I will present it here in due course. I am hoping that someone in our forums community will recognize the originating culture.

[Andrew]

Lee:

Conical hats like this are found throughout East Asia and, particularly, SEA. It may well be difficult to assign a direct origin to your example. Here is a photo from Wikipedia of all sorts of hats in a Chinese market. The ones stacked on the far left look similar to your's.

Yours looks Thai to me (and to my Thai friend who I shared your photos with). Here is a website selling a very similarly constructed hat (albeit not as well-made as your example):

http://www.thaicraftwarehouse.com/tc...p?fashid=51823

Best,
A

[Andrew]

I was hasty with my last post--pure ignorance is to blame.

Now that I look at Lee's example on my large home monitor, it is apparant the similarities to the pedestrian examples I noted are superficial.

A beautiful and skillfully crafted hat.