{"id":118277,"date":"2018-05-11T14:46:56","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T14:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/som-fashions-former-chicago-firehouse-into-bespoke-men-s-hat-atelier\/"},"modified":"2022-11-11T17:03:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T22:03:06","slug":"som-fashions-former-chicago-firehouse-into-bespoke-men-s-hat-atelier","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/som-fashions-former-chicago-firehouse-into-bespoke-men-s-hat-atelier\/","title":{"rendered":"SOM Fashions Former Chicago Firehouse Into Bespoke Men\u2019s Hat Atelier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago is renowned for myriad phenomena. Jazz and the blues. Politics. Pizza. And, of course, architecture. But hats? Yes, according to Graham Thompson, founder of Optimo<\/a>, a men’s hat company based in the city’s South Side. Steady growth over its 25-year existence has called for expansion—and a new space. It comes courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill<\/a>, the 82-year-old firm with significant ties to the city.<\/p>\n

> Project Resources<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thompson has been a hat devotee since he was 16, when he’d saved up for two years to purchase his first one from legendary Chicago hatmaker Johnny Tyus. He eventually apprenticed with Tyus for seven years, and then, upon graduating college and Tyus’s retirement, Thompson bought his equipment and opened Optimo. Last year, when it came time to move someplace larger, he found the ideal venue in a 1914 firehouse about a mile from his original location.<\/p>\n

\"\"