Magnolia and Grace, a boutique owned by Grace Surette and located in downtown Manning, has largely expanded their selection of unique and fashionable hats. We conducted an interview with the owner of the shop. The questions and answers are below.
TMT: How did you get into designing custom hats for people?
G: So the reason I started off was because I’m a huge hat person. I love all kinds of hats. It’s been a huge passion of mine to have a hat wall. So, in my house I have a huge hat wall that displays all of my hats that I’ve had over the years and they just kind of tell a story. I don’t necessarily like the bland ones, I always like to put my own twist to them. I did go to Nashville last year, and I started off looking at all these hats; I was like ‘wow these are amazing, I want to do one.’ Then I sat back, and I was like ‘why not try and do this on myself? Okay! Let’s see how this goes,’ and it’s just taken off by itself. I didn’t understand that there was kind of a need for it around here. I wanted to make it affordable, but I also wanted to make it unique to each individual that came through my building.
Now sometimes there are people that just come and purchase one that I’ve done, but mainly, I try and do it specific to the individual. I’ve had people come in and say ‘Hey, this is my grandma’s veil, this is my granddaddy’s napkin, this is my daddy’s bow tie,’ So, I try and create it uniquely to the individual so it tells a story. So each hat, if I haven’t done it, or if I’ve done it for someone else, I allow them to name the hat so it’s also unique to them. I’ve done some just for people
in general that liked a bunch of different stuff added to them. I use leather, lace, cotton, all kinds of different stuff. And then, I’ve had people more here lately that have understood where they want to take the hat and have it made more distinctive to them. The last hat that I did, the scarf was the lady’s mom’s, the napkin was her dad’s, and both of them had passed a couple years ago so it was definitely a unique. And, it was something that they could wear all the time, but it wasn’t necessarily over the top. That’s been the pleasure of making them is they’re specific to each individual. And as I said before, I allow them to name them, so that helps make the hats even more unique to each person.
TMT: Can you take me through your process of how you decorate each hat. I know you said sometimes people bring you stuff, but do you look at a hat and think ‘okay, I want to do this with it, or I want to put this piece with this hat?’
G: To begin with, I purchased all my hats through a company, and it’s a very sturdy style hat so that I can brand them. It withstands the materials on there. I make sure I purchase sturdy hats because I want to make sure it lasts, and I want to make sure if I start like branding on it, it doesn’t bleed through. I purchase them and then people come in, and pick out what style of hat they like most. Then, the customers can bring their own materials or we can choose from some of the materials I keep on hand. I have all kinds of old buttons, earrings, and necklaces. I also have leather, lace, and other materials. A lot of feathers and doodads, I keep in house. But I encourage other people to bring in their own stuff. Then as far as like the style, I just show people what I do, like ‘this would be cute this way’ or ‘this would be cute that way.’ We first look at what they brought me and take it from there. If they brought me a scarf, then I say okay let’s try and get with the colors of the scarf to make scarf pop on the hat. I just really like to talk it over with the client and say ‘alright, this is what I’m imagining, is this the same as what you are imagining?’ and we adjust from there. Thankfully, my first try is usually the best, but every now and then I may need to take this off, or change that, or add that, and then sometimes they’re like ‘hey, I was looking in my closet and I found this can we add this to it?’
TMT: You talked about how you brand the hats a lot, do you work with branding often? What else do you use?
G: I have my own tools, and I free hand all of the branding that I do on each hat. I do have stencil letters that I can warm up and brand on the specific hat, but most of my work is freehand. I did a bride-to-be’s future last name, so she could wear it when she’s leaving the ceremony. I freehanded that whole thing. I’ve done people’s initials, I’ve done verses. I’m getting ready to do a Coastal Carolina Hall of Fame lettering on one currently. I do a lot of different brandings.
TMT: You get a lot of people that bring stuff in, is there anything weird or interesting that sticks out?
G: Nothing is really weird to me, I’m like, ‘the weirder it is, the better.’ I feel like that makes you happy, it makes it more irreplaceable, and you’re not going to be able to find that somewhere else. Where I make a pink hat and I just put something on it, they have a pink hat and they add pictures or initials that is directed to the individual. So it makes it completely different than anyone else. You know you’re not going to go to a country music concert or Nashville and see the exact same hat.
TMT: Do you have a favorite hat?
G: I wouldn’t really say I have a favorite one. I think my most treasured one has been the latest hat that I’ve done, where the lady brought nothing but her stuff. That was the one I mentioned earlier, where her scarf that was her mom’s, and the handkerchief was her dad’s, there were pendants that her mom and grandma wore, there was a pendant that reminded her of her husband. I’m a very sentimental person and I love connections like that. I think that’s why I haven’t created my own hat yet. I actually made one and someone was like, ‘hey I really like that scarf that you have on there, can I purchase that, and add it on a different hat?’ You know sometimes when you wear the brand, you end up having to kind of regroup, but that is the joy of doing it, you get to re-do another hat some other day. I’m looking forward to having things from my grandmas’ on either side, my dad’s parents, my mom’s parents, and some people that are very close to me that I can add to my own hat because I’m very home driven. Family is huge for me, friends are huge for me, so the more the better. I think those hats are probably some of my favorites to do, hearing the stories behind the materials is always really great.
TMT: Do you work on the hats here at Magnolia & Grace?
G: I do. I do it on site. I like to do it here because it’s fun when people walk into the doors, and see me working on something. That also encourages other people to explore the possibility of doing their own hats, and that’s kind of where I’ve got other people that have come through and said ‘hey I really want this hat could you do me a hat?’ So, that works too. People really enjoy the hands-on aspect of it.
TMT: What’s the easiest way for people to get a hat made by you?
G: It depends entirely on their schedule. A lot of times people just bring me stuff, and are like ‘here, I trust you, you do it,’ type of thing, but nine times out of ten I, of course, make sure that they find the perfect hat. That’s always the first thing. I brand each hat so that they know that came straight from me. It’s GE, which is Grace Emily, my first and middle name. I have had people local, and I’ve had people out of state that come through to get a hat made, in that case I can ship it. I have four that I’m working on right now, and they’re all local. I have one lady that’s headed to Nashville this week so I’m trying to get hers done so she can have it for her trip.
