Valéria Fazekas founded her studio in 1994 in Budapest, where she designs, develops and handcrafts the collections herself, including hats and apparel pieces. A sense of experimentation can be felt throughout her work, which often has a playful, bold and surprising touch. She experiments with the mobility and structure of objects, using geometrical forms and diverse colours. Her hats can be worn in multiple ways and interpreted from a variety of perspectives, characterised by the play between symmetry and asymmetry. Fazekas believes that her pieces communicate and select their wearers, not the other way around. For her, the greatest recognition is when other artists wear her creations, for example a designer for Prada or a male choreographer of a contemporary dance theatre.
Read the full interviewPhoto: ©Ágnes Soltészné Haranghy
This bright yellow fur felt hat is part of Valeria Fazekas' hand-blocked hat series. This elegant hat, perfect for everyday use, can be shaped by the user into three district forms: a restrained form reminiscent of a beret; a form evocative of a visor hat, or worn tightly over one’s head.
Height 17 cm
Diameter 22 cm
Photo: ©Ágnes Soltészné Haranghy
This bright red fur felt hat is part of Valeria Fazekas’ hand-blocked collection. The hat was created as an evolution of Valeria’s smaller ‘New York' hat with cubic and fractured outlines. For the ‘Manhattan’ hat, these features have been enlarged and evoke the tall standing forms of buildings.
Height 21 cm
Diameter 21 cm
Photo: ©Ágnes Soltészné Haranghy
Delhi, a black fur felt hat, is part of Valeria Fazekas’ hand-blocked collection. Inspiration for the design came from the technical challenge and the playfulness of rotating two separate forms. Using a particular form, she pushes the limits of hand-blocked hats with skill and experience.
Length 22 cm
Width 20 cm
Height 27 cm
Photo: ©Benedek Regős
This hat was created within the framework of Valéria Fazekas' solo exhibition “In Circulation”, developed for and presented at the Contemporary Design Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest. Valeria drew her inspiration for the piece from an ornamental vase produced by Zsolnay Factory (Pécs, Hungary), itself based on an archaic type of vase.
Height 69 cm
Photo: ©Iván Jaksity
Hekla is a static and asymmetric hand-blocked hat. The name of the bright red fur felt hat refers to the Icelandic volcano Hekla. Fazekas carefully balances the size and placement of the spheres to create a playful and seemingly random look. While making it, she examined the issues of seriality, repetition and symmetry/asymmetry.
Length 24 cm
Width 22 cm
Height 18 cm
Michelangelo Foundation
Homo Faber
