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LÁSZLÓ ZOLTÁN · Straw hat

Lázsló Zoltán · Straw hat

Braid, sew and give wheat another shape.
  • Lázsló Zoltán
  • Braided straw
Fertile fields of crops are sown along the soft hills of Transylvania. From the abundance of wheat and the need to protect from the hot spring and summer sun, the Straw hat was born. The need and use were born linked to the land. Encouraging a herd of cows, goats or sheeps, sowing a field  or in the harvest.
 

László Zoltán is the fifth generation that lives from the production of Straw hats.
The old machines now electrified give soul to the workshop where the family tradition continues at Székelydobó.

  • Straw
  • Sewing the braids
  • Metal mold

Once the straw is woven, László Zoltán begins to sew the strips. Giving the first shape to the hat, with a metal mold to prove that the measurements are correct.

  • Lázsló Zoltán sewing
  • First shape of the hat
  • Checking the measures

With the hat shape completed, he proceed to look for the perfect shape using a pressure machine.
The internal metal surface of the machine is heated, the hat is placed into the metal and inside the hat a molding with the ideal shape, then the machine is closed. The pressurized air enters the rubber of the internal upper part of the machine and is concentrated by exerting pressure on the molding that prints the precise shape on the straw hat.

  • Pressure machine
  • Metal mold hat shape
  • Pressure machine
  • Molding for the top of the hat

Not all hats have the same decoration. In the past the width of the decoration band indicated your economic and social position, the wing layout to which age range you belonged to (wing tilted upward for young people and downward the older people) and the position of the top of the band if you were Romanian or Hungarian (to the left for the Hungarians and to the right for the Romanians). Today some aspects remain, but the taste prioritizes in its decoration.

Over time the straw hat has added to its functional aspect a more accessory quality, with decorative character and linked to appearance.

Thanks László Zoltán for open the door of your workshop to us.

  • Straw hat
If this story sparked your interest towards finding out more about Rural Transylvania and possible ways to experience it, you are welcome to contact us. 
· Youth Association from Transylvania at office.ata@gmail.com 
· Farmers Association from the Cristuru Secuiesc Area at office.aacs@gmail.com

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