Jasmin Zorlu wearing her trademark Aquatic Aviator Fishskin Helmet with her fur son, Moja

I was born in Germany to a fiesty red-headed American mother and intense dark haired Turkish father. With my family, we travelled all over the world. Living in Japan from the tender ages of 5 to 9 helped me soak up their stark minimalistic design aesthetic. I moved to the wonderlands of Iceland at 9 because of my mother's job as an art teacher, residing in a fishing village and soaking up their modernistic design. I ate plenty of fish there! It’s crazy that years later I discovered the best fish leather tannery in the world was in Northern Iceland.

In High School, I aspired to be a clothing designer, and was admitted to Otis-Parsons in Los Angeles. Instead I decided to go to the University of Michigan and follow a liberal arts education, earning a degree in Art History. In my Junior year, I took a Millinery course offered by the theater department, and was instantly hooked. I moved to New York City shortly after graduation and assisted the hatter Rod Keenan, and several other milliners, including James Coviello and Tracy Watts. I also obtained a degree in Accessory Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, moving out to the west coast for a brief foray into Footwear Design.

In San Francisco, I designed women's caps and hats for Goorin Brothers, freelancing for 2 years. In New York City, I taught Millinery to junior and senior fashion students for 3,5 years at the Parsons School of Design.

I work with handwoven straws, fish leather, wool felt, and reclaimed cashmere. 95% of my work is completely done by hand and is one-of-a-kind. I am constantly striving to be a zero waste designer. I only use natural materials (though sometimes I need to use nylon thread with my fish leather).

Kat Von D, Erykah Badu, Neil Young, and Tom Waits have bought my hats. Also, Bjork and Nick Cave have one.

If you’d like to read more about how I started making hats, go to this blogpost:

I'd love to hear from you at jasmin (at) jasminzorlu.com

Questions or comments? Send me a message!