A hatter by chance
SOME TIME in 1986, young Milton Brown, a farmer of Ewarton, St Catherine, was planting flowers for a friend when a man acquainted with that friend turned up. The man was making something artistic from coconut fronds. Brown’s interest was piqued, because he said he had always loved craft. He asked the man to show him how to do what he was doing. The man obliged. Brown learned quickly, and he said the man was amazed. But, he did not show Brown how to start the process. It was after he had left that Brown realised that, but he had never seen the man before, and he has not seen him since. He said, with a broad smile, that the man was like “an angel”. He saw where he could make a living making items with the coconut fronds. But frustration set in initially. He did not know how to start the process and his friend would not take him to see the man even after several requests.
A few months into his frustration, he said one Sunday morning he got some fronds; he wanted to make something with them, but still did not know where to start. So, in his desperation, he sent up a prayer.
“A sey, ‘God, yuh know mi nuh have nuh trade, enuh, an’ yuh promise to provide for us, so dis mawnin, show mi, God, how fi start dis, enuh.’”
Shortly after, he put some of the fronds to soak in water. When they became pliable, he attempted three times to start the process, but failed. But he was determined, and upon the fourth attempt, he got it right. Jubilation! Yet, he was only able to make the rim of a hat; he did know how to make the top.
He wore the visor around the community, and caught the attention of people who complimented his rare creation. But he was still not satisfied. He wanted something with a top.
An acquaintance told him the process was simple, and so, he said, he was forced to come up with the technique. He returned home, and he said he went into deep thoughts. About a week after, the idea eventually came. He would make the top and the rim separately and then weave them together. He got it right, after several trials. And he has been making hats since then.
Recently, when Hospitality Jamaica chanced upon ‘Hattie’, as he is now called, he had an array of coconut frond hats, some of which he embellished with other parts of the coconut tree. There is the ‘Kangol’, the visor, the church hat, the Chinese conical, the traditional straw hat, the kufi (Africaninspired), and the topless sunshade. He has mastered the art of making coconut frond hats, it seems.
His biggest challenge, Brown said, is to find a regular market, as hat-making is one of the things he does to make a living, as well as selling fruits along the Mount Rosser main road in St Catherine.