Panama hats are at the center of impresario Milton Johnson's story. Inspired by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Johnson, currently the proprieter of Montecristi Custom Hat Works, moved from the Ft. Worth area to Medellin, Columbia, in the seventies. At the time, his intent was to export local textiles and pre-Columbian artifacts from his new home. But, in the course of his travels, Johnson stumbled upon Montecristi, a village in Ecuador whose residents wove delicate but sturdy Panama hats from palm fronds. He was impressed by the craftsmanship - their weaving techniques had been handed down for countless generations - and vowed to share these functional works of art with the rest of the world.
     Johnson returned to Texas, then moved to New Mexico, fashioning the raw hats from Montecristi into customized pieces for high-end clientele. After adding cowboy hats to the line, he attracted still more customers. And even the hatbands are works of art: a 14-karat gold Navajo storyteller by goldsmith Francis Tabaha, as well as bands flaunting heishi and other beadwork, tooled leather, horsehair, or porcupine quills.
     Because head shapes are as complex and individual as people's fingerprints, the staff at Montecristi uses such time-tested tools as a conformator and wooden blocks to precisely fit clients' Panamas to their singular domes. Those of us who think we just aren't "hat people" may simply need the kind of custom fitting Montecristi provides.