Ras Redwine is the Best Damn Hatter in Texas

When I stumbled into a hat shop last year, time froze. I could barely process the overload of information my brain was downloading from the world I’d stepped into. Every single square inch of the shop was filled with vibrantly colored and very unique materials, equipment, art, musical instruments and so many hats. Lukas Nelson was playing on the speakers. Incense were burning and smoke was swirling. I didn’t know the first thing about a custom hat or what world I just walked into, but I was about to learn… a lot.

Soon enough, Ras Redwine strolled through the swinging wooden doors. I didn’t know it yet, but we would soon become friends and a few months later I’d have myself my very first custom hat. I asked Ras that day if I could bring my camera back and document this place and his craft. He agreed. But I didn’t just tell the story through photographs. Words poured from my heart to go with those pictures.

This experience inspired me to do more work like this for the great entrepreneurs, artists, coaches, musicians and teachers of Austin.

Life is full of twists and turns. Ras has opened his own shop now and I was grinning from ear to ear when he asked me to come check it out and snap some photographs of him working at the new place.

God bless the day I walked into that first shop and god bless you, Ras Redwine.

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Follow my journey on Instagram. @melanieapplegatephotography