The Mihalkó family of hatters

Our home town, Balmazújváros, can be proud of the many talented people it has produced. One of the things it is proud of is family’s hat-making work.

My name was added to the paternal side of my family tree on 15 September 1972: Emese Mihalkó. The roots of this tree go all the way back to the 1700s. The link between handicrafts and wool and felt, however, dates back to the late 1800s. At that time my great-grandfather, János Mihálka, married Zsófia Zs. Nagy, whose father was a master hatter. This is how family, hat-making and wool have been intertwined in Balmazújváros, for 140 years. This invisible thread of felt has not been broken ever since.

Three of my great-grandfather’s five sons learned the hat-making trade. They all learned some other trade as well, but wool was never missing from their workshop table. One of them, master hatter Zoltán Mihalkó, became a Master of Folk Art, he was my father’s uncle and the one who preserved the skills of hat-making the longest.

My father, master hatter Gyula Mihalkó, Master of Folk Art, practised the craft after his retirement. His father’s teachings, his uncle’s work, the smell of wool and Dad’s diligence kept the hatter’s workshop in Balmazújváros alive. After the death of my father, the future of the workshop was in question. My brother, Gyula Mihalkó Jr. (Young Master of Folk Art), did not continue the hatter’s business. Today, my husband Attila Sós and I are trying to keep the memory of the Mihalkó masters alive, we are operating as the Mihalkó Hat House.

In the hat-making workshop, the tools used by the Masters of Folk Art are preserved and nurtured. Our machines (sewing machine, pressing machine) are still powered by hand. The two of us can make the hats made by the Mihalkó masters in a reimagined form. We are proud to be able to present the authentic Hungarian shepherd’s hats to the shepherds.

Emese Mihalkó

www.mihalkokalaposhaz.hu