INTERVIEW
Remade antique hat irons and tools used for shaping
and Tino Ré could only hire him for part- time hours. Fortunately Pierre Debard, the owner of Maison Michel, offered him work as a hatter, also for half days. He thus worked on both hat blocks and hats, often for the same collection. Sébastien stayed with Tino Ré until
2004 but he had actually left Maison Michel for a hat company called Panama Montecristi long before then. He appreciated working with quality Panama straws, but businesswise the firm was somewhat rocky. When the Panama hat trade gradually declined following the attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York, he returned to Maison Michel full- time, attracted by the offer of a better salary. However, after Chanel took over Maison Michel as part of their ‘Métiers d’art’ creative hub, the working style gradually changed and gave him less creative satisfaction.
Know your tools
In 2011, when Chanel decided to move Maison Michel from its historic location at 65 rue Sainte-Anne in the heart of Paris, Sébastien concluded it was time to return to Brittany. By chance, he was commissioned by a businessman who had acquired the hat brand Fléchet to set up a hat factory, complete with staff and machinery. Sébastien had been in charge of production for several years
when the venture came to an end due to the owner’s serious mismanagement. (Since then, the company has enjoyed a successful restart under new ownership.) Armed with his experience and his skills as a hatter and block maker, in 2022 Sébastien opened his own workshop with the name ‘Atelier du Formier’, meaning ‘block maker’s workroom’. Starting from scratch meant that he needed equipment. “The first thing you need to do as a block maker is to find or make your own tools and machinery,” says Sébastien. “I had already picked up several tools during my years with Tino Ré, but my collection wasn’t complete. My main tool is a clamping vice. It is larger than a carpenter’s vice, as it has to allow an opening of at least 40 cm – wide enough to insert a wooden log. Then you need a series of wastringues, which are small planes to use on convex surfaces. I also have a trusquin (a marking gauge), a tool to create string grooves, and several electric saws.” The decline of the hat-making industry
“The first thing you need to do as a block maker is to find or make your own tools and machinery”
Sébastien uses carpenters’ machines, adapting them where possible. The only problem is that, as these machines do not comply with modern safety standards, he is not permitted to employ anyone or take on an apprentice. He is still trying to find solutions to optimise security. He also collects old hat-making tools. “I have an old catalogue from Singer that shows how many different and precise machines were available to hatters at the time,” Sébastien says. He also has a catalogue from Allié Maillard, the firm best known for their conformateur (head- measuring device). “They had a large collection of other tools that I would like to try and reproduce. However, I have yet to discover what some of them were used for.”
over the last century brought an end to the development of dedicated machinery.
His interest in antique tools and machines doesn’t stop him from keeping up to date with the latest developments. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining involves the automated control of machine tools by a computer according to specific input instructions. CNC offers greatly increased productivity for repetitive production compared to non-
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