A story of loss, exploration and recovery.

The Lone bird hat evolved in a span of about 15 years after my cherished hat disappeared in the Oregon Cascades snowbank while chaining-up during a midnight storm. My favorite and only hat, GONE!

This everything hat was: warm, protective from rain/snow/wind/sun, crushable for transport, comfortable for dressing up but also sturdy for working in the garden or hiking in the forest. Despite many alteratives, no subsitute could be found. Designing my own was the next step. Detailed plans and an order for twenty hats submitted to Alibaba, China was the first ‘experiment’. A PreK-12/ International Baccalureat visual art teaching career guided material experiments and offered insspiration to pursue the creative personalization idea for the hat. Using the first hats as a trial run, family members, friends and students were offered a hat to explore as if a blank canvas for sharing a wearable statement, passion or just a creative design.

Opportunities for creativity and the value of individual visual voices were a strong motivation. With the Alibaba hat of marginal quality, multiple hat manufacturers and application possibilities were explored in the search for the finest quality and clearest guidance. After much reflection, revision and decision-making all parts of the project came together. The Lone Bird Pioneer Hat was born on Pioneer Street, in the neighborhood of the infamous pioneer Barlow Gate of the Oregon trail, in a small town in the high desert town of about 70 people, called Wamic. AND the best part………. I got my hat back!

All the best, Ginny Sampson