Hoed van rood stro, met gevlochten band van blauwe stro c. 1960 - 1997

This is a hat made with red and blue straw by Tim Bönig. The hat feels very contemporary and fresh, but it also speaks to this long history of millinery! I wonder what it was like for Bönig to make this, knotting and weaving these materials together in his studio. There’s a very particular shade of red, almost like a rich, antique, leather, and the blue is more of a textural interruption. I'm thinking of the sculptor Ruth Asawa, who was known for her intricate, woven wire sculptures. Bönig’s piece shares a sensibility with Asawa, in how it brings a sense of handmade, tactile, process to what we think of as design and function. And the gesture of the band around the hat’s crown feels like an interruption. The hat exists as a dialogue between utility and uselessness, and in that sense, the artist's hand invites us to wonder about the life of objects!