Meet Holly Johnson

Holly Johnson is a self-taught, professional Felt Hat Maker from, and based in Stoke-on-Trent. She makes custom, handmade hats from scratch using the traditional practice of felt blocking, to form a variety of styles of headwear such as top hats, fedoras, bowlers, boleros and more.

She generally uses wool and fur felt that she hand stiffens, steams, blocks, shapes, and sands, and combines this process with contemporary methods of embellishment such as pyrography, fire, paint and 3D printed tools to make each piece artistic, personal and unique. The blocking process she uses dates back to the 17th century and was something that Newcastle-under-Lyme in particular was known for, which also means she has an interesting mix of traditional, vintage equipment as well as more modern, 3D printed and hand-crafted tools.

She has been learning this craft for around 5 years and has been selling her work internationally under her business Hojo Hattery, full-time for 3 years. Hat Making is a Heritage craft and is now on the Red List of Endangered Crafts in the UK.

Holly has delivered live talks about her work and practice with The Heritage Crafts Association and The British Millinery Association and has carried out a number of public research projects, tutorials, workshops and hat making demonstrations with both local and national organisations.

Take a look at Holly’s work over on her Instagram and Facebook page.