Of Hatters and Boots Makers Artisans and Community

Experiential travel doesn’t have to break the bank, involve articulated itineraries and uber-planned activities. 

In fact, the best experiences when we travel are free, if we keep an open heart. 

Like in Texas, when a few weeks ago I walked right into one of the few true hatters artisans left in the area that continue to make their Texan legendary hats with their hands. The artisans are fewer and fewer but the interesting thing is that true hatters don’t really want/need to lower their prices to gain more customers. In true Texan pride, the owner of the shop just shook her head and said: ‘that’s what it is, y’all’ 

A custom-made texan hat can cost anything between 800$ to 1200$. I paid mine 250$ knowing that the money was going straight into the artisans and community family business and was made locally. 

Cowboys hats are mandatory dress-code for a Rodeo in Texas, where time just stands still. Texas cowboys culture lives on despite everything that goes on in the world, even in the simple gestures of taking the hat off when greeting a lady. 🙂

But I was missing boots! 

Driving on into New Mexico, I met Marcos one of the last living boots makers of Artisans and Community in Santa Fe at his shop. He greeted me with a warm smile, proudly saying that it was his shop and he learned the trade and took over from his father. Today, he makes no more than 25/30 pairs of boots per year, with a custom pair of boots costing anything from 4000$ to 12000$. The most expensive pair he made? 15000$ – but he cannot name the customer. 

I couldn’t afford to buy boots from Marcos, but I was in awe with his craftsmanship and pride. So I was walking back thinking to myself where’s the middle ground? Are artisans designated to be a very exclusive league (rightly so) or could there be something else? and that’s when I met her.

She is a Native American from the Navajo Tribe of New Mexico, selling her hand-made jewels of silver and turquoise. She tells me that the silver has gotten expensive and her making has been affected because people want to buy cheap. Jewellery making for the Navajo artisans is one of the most diffuse way of earning a living. But at what cost?

I couldn’t afford to buy boots from Marcos, but I was in awe with his craftsmanship and pride. So I was walking back thinking to myself where’s the middle ground? Are artisans designated to be a very exclusive league (rightly so) or could there be something else? and that’s when I met her. 

She is a Native American from the Navajo Tribe of New Mexico, selling her hand-made jewels of silver and turquoise. She tells me that the silver has gotten expensive and her making has been affected because people want to buy cheap. Jewellery making for the Navajo artisans is one of the most diffuse way of earning a living. But at what cost? 

I shook her hands and bought a little necklace, and then, I got a wonderful hug for free. 

L'articolo The Pan-American Journey | Artisans and Community proviene da Dolores Semeraro Tourism Keynote Speaker.