Lukáš Jonov
Peter Kovalík (1953) of Prešov has been producing hats, as accessories to folk costumes, repairing them and providing additional ornamentation on them since 2004. He had come to the manufacture of standardised hats step by step. As an active participant at folklore festivals and an attentive craftsman, he noticed that some performers were wearing worn out hats. His curiosity, an inner urge and, after all, also insistence by members of folklore ensembles made him to take real steps. What followed were long hours spent by studying literature, visiting museums, learning more about the forms, materials, cuts and production techniques. As his interest in the matter was growing, the range of offered products gradually increased, too. In addition to traditional regional or local types of hats, Peter Kovalík’s workshop now offers also more modern, urban, or even American hats which started gaining popularity after the First World War. The rich offer of traditional hats from all over Slovakia contains more than 20 types. Specific attention is also paid to wooden hat forms and their production. The most frequently used material in Peter Kovalík’s workshop is felt made of rabbit hair. Compared with the traditional sheep hair, it is much finer to touch, the resulting product is lighter and casts delicate reflections in the light. In 2014 Peter Kovalík was awarded the title Master of Folk Art Production for highly professional production of costume hats from across Slovakia.