"Until I put on my hat, I am not myself"

Gema Galdón is one of the most restless and surprising creative souls in the city, not only because of her fame as a hat designer, but above all for an inspiring communicative ability.

This sculptor of the void or milliner of the aura has her workshop on Santa Teresa street in Barcelona and, without fanfare or advertising, her style has captured the attention of such important figures as André Leon Talley, Woody Allen or Bill Cunningham. Galdón starts with a needle and thread, and everything else always ends up being magic.

--- I see Saint Pancras, I don't see Saint Catherine. Where do you have her?

--- The patron saint of hat makers and single women in search of true love. She's downstairs, at the entrance, you're just distracted and haven't seen her.

--- The Catherinettes.

--- That's where it all started, when I began making hats for myself. Now that I've evolved into the Hat Gallery, I still keep the painting. I found it on the street, I didn't go looking for it. Like so many things that appear when you stop looking for them. This Saint Catherine was on the street, due to a flood that a garage had suffered. They had taken the junk out, and I approached it because it was so beautiful. I didn't know it was a Saint Catherine. And when I read it, in very small print, I took it.

--- What is a hat, for you?

--- A hat re-dimensions a person. It can make her taller, it can make her visually wider, it can make her visually sadder, more invisible... It has a power that other pieces don't have. Look, I work with space, but from many perspectives. And a hat is a very three-dimensional piece. The comparable thing would be a shoe.

--- A shoe?

--- Of course. The shoe starts from below, the hat starts from above... Therefore, it's like a shoe on the head.

--- Curious image.

--- It's just that all other pieces are two-dimensional.

--- They are clothes, clearly. Papers, fabric.

--- And this is an object. I don't like the word ornament, because it's like something extra. But I do like to say it's a touch. It's not a hat, it's a touch. Like putting on a piece of jewelry, like putting on something that creates distinction and makes what you want to say about yourself special. For example, until I put on my hat, I'm not myself.

--- Or a version of yourself.

--- There are many Gemas. There's the one from the workshop, whom you saw earlier while I was on the phone with a client, or Instagram Gema, who everyone says is taller, or the one from the Liceu, who wears very specific pieces, and then the normal Gema, who always wears somewhat more invisible pieces.

--- Does the person give personality to the hat, or is it the other way around?

--- Look: when a person walks in here, I already know which hat will be for them. Even if I don't have it. I don't have it and I already know which one it is. And maybe the person will tell me no, that they want to try another one. I'll say okay, so as not to scare them. And I have about three opportunities to make them fall in love with the one that truly suits them: the first time, they'll say maybe we made a mistake. The second time, they'll get a little nervous. The third time, they'll already look ridiculous. And they'll take the step to try on the one I recommend.

"A hat re-dimensions a person (...). It's like a shoe on the head"

--- Yes. Now, if I take it off, suddenly, I'm in pajamas. On the other hand, I put it back on and, even if I hadn't put on eye makeup or anything, my face changes. My features change, it's another story, I feel different. Besides, as I said, a hat can be very invisible. In fact, when celebrities go to an airport and want to go unnoticed, the first thing they do is put on a hat and glasses.

--- It's a whole language.

--- A hat is a verb. There are strong verbs, there are sweet verbs... This one on the table, for example, I made it so that a person with chemotherapy can comb their hair.

--- Comb their hair?

--- Yes, if you change its position, or its shape, it's like combing your hair. Not just covering your head. There will be days when she's very animated and she'll pull it up high, there will be days when she feels terrible and she'll pull it all down... It's also about giving the person play. There are pieces that, for example, don't have a front and a back.

--- You came into this world quite by chance.

--- Always, everything. I start by making things for myself. I arrived in Barcelona as a tourist. I wanted to do many things, and my plan was the world of luxury, working for big brands... But it didn't work out. And then the path defines itself, because one thing is what one wants and the other is how everything keeps moving.

"I always start something by making an absurd model, which makes no sense"

--- I already wore hats, I made them for myself, I had a very high-level wedding and I didn't have the economic conditions to dress appropriately. But I did know what a high level hat had to have. And I built it myself. From there, a client came to me, from that client two more came, and that's how things often work.

--- Your raw material is disused, recycled, second-hand, third-hand materials, containers...

--- Always. Yes. I go to places and I think I will find many things, because they are places where I put all my intention, but often I don't find what I would like, and what I do is take it, even if I don't like it. Then I shred it, and I make my fabric.

--- From the models you make unique pieces.

--- I always have to have the feeling of trying and exploring. There are pieces that have been here in the workshop for three years and that will never come down, or that for now don't have to come down. And one day things go click and a change simply occurs, and it works. I always start by doing something with an absurd model, that makes no sense. And I get stuck, and I try again, and I try again... And, sometimes, it's waking up the next day and seeing that the solution was in front of me and I hadn't seen it.

--- Tell us about your relationship with André Leon Talley.

--- I wasn't looking for him, nor was he looking to find me, we met under veery... random conditions, at the 080. He liked the blouse I was wearing, which was my grandmother's (the hat was very invisible). What he saw was the blouse, and then the hat.

--- You are known, but, at the same time, you have to be known to know where to find you.

--- I don't have a sign, I don't advertise. I have been a costume designer in American films, I have worked for super important people, but no one stays to watch the credits of the films.

--- In the 21st century, on what occasions does a person wear a hat? And what type of person?

--- Anyone. You.

--- Not me. Or I've never done it.

--- I don't sell to tourists or, in any case, they are a minority. The clients are people from Barcelona.

"I only make unique pieces. It's like asking a painter to paint the same picture again"

--- No. To go. Like a shoe. Evidently, there are people who start from scratch, who have gotten used to it, and then it's one after another. For me, this is magic.

--- I don't know if you also want to explain the story of the hat that was auctioned at Christie's as if it were a sculpture.

--- André Leon Talley had it, and when he died, they thought it was a sculpture. Because it was on the nightstand. I was surprised that it was so used, so lived-in. And they called me thinking it was a sculpture. There was an Andy Warhol, a Bob Colacello, many Mapplethorpes...

--- Can I ask you the price?

--- It sold for 6,993 dollars. Since then, people have asked me for replicas, but I can't make them. I only make unique pieces. It's like asking a painter to paint the same picture again.

--- Have you been copied?

--- Yes, a lot.

--- And what do you do, then?

--- I put up with it. I don't register every piece. However, I have restricted photos on social media.

--- What is your message about the creative attitude?

--- I would like to tell everyone to explain something personal. They say you have to put your heart into things, but no: you have to put your body, your heart, your liver, your lung... You have to put everything, get very distressed, cry... That's what I want people to do. And in fact, it's the only way to lift Barcelona up again.

--- Not just surviving.

--- There have been months when I've had to survive, you know? Like everyone else. But I do it based on my own personality, my own style, and this requires a lot of polishing of intuition. When I've made a mistake, I knew that intuition was telling me I was making a mistake. Intuition is what keeps us on the right path. Even if they tell you to go another way.

--- Even if you have to close down.

--- It's okay to close down. I've done it many times. Closing down is not bad, on the contrary: it indicates ambition. When you have already set your limit, overcome it. Do something different. And yes, then, close down. That's why I have to take advantage of everything I have today, my hours today, the material I have today, to make pieces. Because tomorrow I don't know if I'll be here.

--- Where will you be? In Paris? In New York?

--- I've had many opportunities to be in Madrid. I would have had a much easier life, but I knew they wouldn't understand what I was doing. Here in Barcelona, we speak the same language.

--- Is Barcelona losing this language?

--- It's many things. We cannot limit ourselves to telling passersby why they don't buy, why they go to Amazon... It's the street factor. I spent two years with scaffolding here in front, it's the rental prices... There are many factors that make people, in the end, unable to resist it. That's why, when I say you have to put your heart into it, you have to put everything into it, you have to put your lung into it, and it's because, sometimes and despite the success, I haven't sold a single piece all month. I could have sold the brand to a large group, but that wasn't my goal. I want to be here doing what I do for the people who understand me. Here.