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"Engraved" Hard hats

Written by Neil Griffiths

(Discipulus ex Experimentalem Anachoresis –at Anachoresis Institutum de Griffius)

Cambridge, United Kingdom

A while back I spotted a post on LinkedIn regarding “engraved hard hats”. A good friend of mine had been presented with one several years ago and it was a real work of art. I had wanted one ever since. I decided to investigate.

This post is not intended to be an advertisement; it is more a celebration of local enterprise (local to Indonesia that is) and a fantastic display of indigenous culture, talent and artistry. If it works as an advertisement, then all well and good. The technique is often, mistakenly, described as engraving; this is wrong because no metal is removed. The technique is actually repoussé (or repoussage) and chasing (or embossing), a form of art that dates back to the ornamental Greek armour of the 3rd century BC! While repoussé is used to work on the reverse of the metal to form a raised design on the front, chasing is used to refine the design on the front of the work by sinking the metal. The techniques of repoussé and chasing utilise the plasticity of metal, forming shapes by degrees. There is no loss of metal in the process, as it is stretched locally and the surface remains continuous. Direct contact of the tools used is usually visible in the result, a condition not always apparent in other techniques, where all evidence of the working method is eliminated (isn’t Wikipedia wonderful). In this case the surface is painted, polished back to emphasise the relief, and then touched up by hand.  

This entire project was managed remotely via email and text messages. I provided a number of graphics that I wanted to be included in the artwork. These were printed and pasted onto a hard hat and then photographed for review and approval (the gaps would be filled with indigenous Indonesian flowers). Then after a few iterations the work began. I received photo updates, via text messages, as the work progressed. Then I received photos of the finished product before packing and shipment. The whole project took ten days (excluding the agonising wait for delivery) and was managed in an extremely efficient, courteous and friendly manner. Being an engineer/artist with OCD, I am not the easiest of customers, but this was an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable experience and a stunning result. I might even be inclined to use the word that a British vocabulary reserves only for the truly exceptional – awesome! 

It would be inappropriate to detail commercial terms here but, suffice to say, considering the degree of talent and the time dedicated to each unique piece, the answer to your burning question is “surprisingly affordable”. I was required to make an international bank transfer before the work began which, of course, in this day and age, rang alarm bells. However, after initial email discussions, I felt confident enough to take that leap of faith. I’m glad I did.

A special thanks to Elvino of Top Hat Indonesia.  

More information may also be obtained at:

 https://www.facebook.com/TopHatIndonesia/

By the way, I should forewarn that this product is purely ornamental and not intended for use as personal protective equipment (PPE).  

 

TopHat Indonesia notes for The Author:

We Would like to Thank  Mr. Neil Griffiths to let us post this article in our website.

This article actually has been long back written and posted in his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/engraved-hard-hats-neil-griffiths/

This article has gave us a true review and more knowledge about metal artwork hardhat.

Again, Thank You.

For the Readers please enjoy the read and be free to give us Your comments.