Imagine living and working as a milliner just down the road from the Tressa Swiss braid factory and a Swiss Silk weaving mill. Michaela Temperli simply drives half an hour to select product she needs for her beautiful array of headwear she offers to her clients. The Swiss Alps are alive with beautiful chapeau she is creating in her county retreat! 

What do you love most about millinery?
As well as wearing hats, they are my passion. In millinery I can express all my creativity and fantasy as well as my interest in design, art and nature. Millinery allows me to play with all kinds of materials.

How did you get into millinery?
In the age of 12 I visited together with my mum the factory of a friend, the former owner of Loevenich Hats in Germany, where we sometimes ordered customized hats. This had a lasting influence on me. After a successful career as Marketing and Event Manager I decided to intensify my passion for hats to spend more time in creating my own hats especially hats for customers. I started to take lessons in millinery making in Germany and Switzerland, and finally decided studying with Hat Academy which I am still doing.

How you would describe your designs?
The “Die Hutisserie”- Hats reflect the style of the 20s up to the 50s of the last century mixed with imagination, actuality, romance and a touch of nostalgia.

What is your ideal customer?
The ideal customer is a woman who loves wearing hats, who loves to attract attention and is not shy of being a little bit crazy.

What inspires you?
Art, nature and culture are the most important influencers for me, especially old traditional techniques inspire me as well. This is why I decided to create two special hats for London Hat Week Great Hat Exhibition 2018 based on the traditional costume hats from Black Forest, South Germany.

If you could invite any milliner to tea who would it be?
I would like to have tea with all the milliners I met in London during the last two year London Hat Weeks. It is so much worth being part of this milliner community and I really like the exchange and discussions.

What is your favourite material to work with?
My favourite material is buckram combined with high quality fabrics like silk, jacquard, etc. It allows me to design different, sometimes unusual shapes and to play with almost all kind of fabrics, colours and patterns. I am very lucky that I live near a former Swiss silk weaving mill where I can choose from a wide variety of designer fabrics.

What is your best millinery tip?
Work with all kinds of materials to experience what you like most. Use high quality material and aim to give everything to your work to get a well done creative finish.

What has been the largest challenge you face in millinery?
Almost all millinery materials need to be ordered from all over the world as in Switzerland it’s hard to find millinery suppliers. There is only exception: TRESSA, the well known producer of swiss braid etc. Luckily it is only a half hour drive away from where I live. Being in contact via social media with milliners from all over the world is very helpful to get tips and tricks and hints where and what to buy.

Famous words to live by.
Don’t give up – great things take time.

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