The tailor -made hats by Rosie Boylan have appeared in glamorous Hollywood films, on fashion tracks and magazine covers, but she also finds a great reward by sharing her skills with the communities of the Pacific Island.
In recent years, the Sydney -based modist has worked with disadvantaged women in rural areas of Vanuatu to develop their commercial skills and improve the products they can sell.
“These are brilliant weavers and make the most wonderful bags and carpets that are part of their tradition,” said Ms. Boylan.
She now encourages them to adapt their existing skills to create hand -woven pandanus hats and expand their distribution opportunities.
Vanuatu women weave dried pandanus leaves in products, including hats, bags and carpets. (Fourni: Pacific Trade Invest Australia))
“I think it is a question of strengthening their confidence to enter the market and being seen, so that their work is valued, and so that they are economically independent,” she said.
“For me, at this stage of my career, it is a question of sharing my skills and I really appreciate the intercultural approach.”
Ms. Boylan is currently working as part of the Vanuatu Skills Partnership, a joint initiative supported by Australian governments and Vanuatu.
Helped by colonial era technology
To improve and speed up the hat manufacturing process, Ms. Boylan presented women with a replica tool for the colonial era she met during her research on traditional weaving.
Ms. Boylan had replicas of the shredding tool of the leaves made by carpenters in Vanuatu. (Supplied: Rosie Boylan))
It consists of a wooden handle with a set of short and pointed metal blades at the end.
When dragged, it considerably accelerates the process of shredding the leaves in coherent strips of widths.
The original device on which it was modeled was discovered under the floor boards during archaeological crucibles at the Hyde Park barracks in Sydney in the early 1980s.
“It's a unique tool,” said the curator of the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Dr Fiona Starr.
The colonial era stripping tool would have been used by convicted people to make hats with grove. (Fourni: Jamie North, Sydney Living Museums))
She thought that the shredster was once used by condemned settlers who were known for having made hats large edges of the cabbage palm leaves.
“At first glance, you should think about what it is used for, but once you know a little about the process of preparing the leaves for the manufacture of the hat, so that makes sense.”
The historic files of 1844 show that the convicts sold their hats to other prisoners and free settlers, an act which was prohibited by the authorities.
“The hats issued by the government were completely unnecessary to protect their heads and their faces of the sun, so they improvised theirs”, “
Dr. Starr said.
Intercultural exchange
With traditional long -standing production methods already used, Ms. Boylan said that women initially hesitated to use the delicator of the leaves, but they now see its advantages.
It can take women about nine hours to complete each braided hat. (Fourni: Pacific Trade Invest Australia))
“They are finally taking it and like to use and see that it accelerates their work,” she said.
Most importantly, Ms. Boylan helps women create a coherent range of products and make a fair price structure.
Once finished, the hats are sold at the national level on the markets of Luganville and Port Vila.
“I think that Ni-Vans (Nationals Vanuatu) and the tourist population also love them because it is a product” Made in Vanuatu “,” she said.
A group of weaks received a large order to provide hats to the Pacific Games organized in Vanuatu in 2017.
Locally manufactured goods even have attracted the eye of British royalty.
“Prince Charles was in Port Vila the other day and he bought one of the hats that was woven in Vanuatu for Camilla. It is therefore exciting,”
Ms. Boylan said.
Economic empowerment
Back in Sydney, Ms. Boylan also distributes the hats of a retailer of the downtown workshop.
She has since launched the Pacific Brim brand, a name that relates to her work with women from Vanuatu, Papua Nouvelle-Guinée and New Zealand.
Based in Newtown, in Sydney, Rosie Boylan has created hats for 35 years. (ABC Radio Sydney: Luke Wong))
Collaboration is a way to bring sustainable products of regional origin to a wider market and to increase the profits that return to women and their communities.
“He opens a way of business for these women so that they can understand the export and biosecurity protocols and an order which sells only one hat,” she said.
“”This brings them to the next level to be participants in the formal economy.“”
Ms. Boylan said she hoped that women would one day take the manufacturing, sale and distribution to reach an international market.
“I fully believe that they have the capacity to create their companies, manage this and sell directly in Vanuatu.”
Many Vanuatu manufacturing hats are now reaching customers in Australia under the BRIM brand of the Pacific. (ABC Radio Sydney: Luke Wong))
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