This is Mr. Zhu. He is one of 10 weavers of this beautifully woven and extremely practical bamboo hat worn by the traditional farmer in one particular rural area in central China. The bamboo material is sourced locally and is split and separated - the green outer skin layer from the brown inner layers. As the green layer has natural cooling & water repellent properties, it is always used on the outside of the hat. However, these are predominately sun hats and not to be worn for rain. There are two qualities made in this flat, shallow crown style. The more open weave takes about 3 days to weave wherein the brown bamboo is used for the underbrim. A more tightly woven hat that takes 2 weeks to weave has green bamboo on both sides resulting in an overall cooler hat to wear (honest – I tried and compared the two!). Both styles have a fine hessian inner layer between the layers of woven bamboo. The hat is then pressed and lacquered multiple times, the colour becoming richer and deeper over time. The toggles on either side of the hat to hold the chin cord are hand carved by the maker. Both are surprisingly comfortable to wear. The “3 days” hat should last about 20 years. The finer woven “2 weeks” hat is 10x the cost and if looked after, will serve the farmer a lifetime. Interestingly, only men use this hat. Mr Zhu learned this skill from his elder brother at the age of 16 and has been weaving for the past 46 years. His brother was handed the skill from their father. Soon Mr. Zhu, like the other 9 artisans in the area making this bamboo hat, will retire and he will put down his tools. As is often the case, there is no interest by a younger generation in learning and continuing this beautiful craft.