Thompson’s journey will be chronicled in a book, aptly titled “Optimo: The Art of the Hatmaker.”
In the foreword, Justin Hummerston and Morten Ehrhorn write that Thompson’s hats “are so intuitively beautiful, you instantly feel naked not wearing them — even though you have never worn a hat in your life.”
“This was not just a shop that was closing,” the book recalls, “it was a craft and art form that was on the edge of extinction.” In 2015, Thompson opened his current workshop, buying a 7,700-square-foot firehouse that was being decommissioned from the city for $1. He hired Skidmore Owings & Merrill to renovate it and although it won a Design Excellence Award in 2018, Thompson said it is still a work in progress. “It was vacant for six years but was the right scale for a workshop,” he said. “We’ve been renovating it ever since.”Optimo operates its sole retail store in the Monadnock building in Chicago’s Loop.
“I don’t like stuff that looks like a costume,” he said, adding that most other hats are akin to clip-on ties. “They’re pre-shaped and pre-formed and lack elegance,” he said. “Part of the ritual of hat wearing is how you crease and shape it to reflect your personality.”
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