Origin
I was dancing at a favorite summer festival when I lost the turquoise hat band that had once wrapped around a favorite hat. Placing it onto my head the following day, the mirror reflected my sense of loss.
I stared out across the meadow of my camp and reminded myself that beauty is cultivated from the spirit. On the far side of the field, a gentle breeze bent a buffer of willows in a sway that mimicked the dancing of the night before. Recalling my many days working to replant willow forests along degraded rivers, I grabbed my knife and set off for the willow coppice to harvest a small handful of whips. With my hands, I wove these willows into a circle and fit them around my hat. I thought about the metaphor of the Round River of life we all find ourselves in—the pulsing rhythms, ecstatic outbursts, and ethereal spaces where we meet each other again and again in a timeless dance.
The willow-woven hat band complete, I foraged around the meadow for further adornments and found some herbs for healing, some flowers for beauty, and some seed heads to signify rebirth. I added these into the hat band grateful for the river that brought water to the willows, and grateful for my plant teachers.
As another evening of festivity rolled in, so too did the many compliments about my hat—transformed into a genuinely unique piece cultivated from the lands upon which my feet dance, under the sun from which my hat shades, and of the water which sways within me.
Thus was born the first “Headwater Hat.”
-Blaze, Founder (pictured here with the first Headwater Hat).
Meet the Team
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Michael Blazewicz
FOUNDER
Michael Blazewicz (“Blaze”) is Headwater Hat’s founder and spirit lead. Restoring the connections between humans and our riverscapes lies at the root of Michael’s work. His career has focused on rehabilitating degraded river systems in the Northeast, Northwest, and Colorado.
Michael's relationship with willows began twenty years ago when some his first projects were to harvest and plant willow cuttings to re-vegetate streambanks. Michael planted tens of thousands of willows in his early twenties along miles of Vermont streambank.
Fast forward and Michael’s work has won numerous awards, he has co-authored several important books on flood recovery and stream restoration and continues to be a thought leader in the field through his consulting business Round River Design.
Michael created the Headwater Hats idea a few years ago and has decided to take this idea and bring it out into the world.
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Lyndsey Riley
MARKETING/EVENTS
Lyndsey is a dynamic digital marketer with a creative spirit and a 12-year journey in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing and event planning and execution. Specializing in branding, content marketing, SEO, and event marketing and management. She’s known for her comprehensive understanding of the digital marketing landscape and for flawlessly planning and executing events.
From launching startups to growing small and medium-sized businesses across all industries, her mission is simple - to help generate leads through enhanced brand awareness using events, content marketing, and SEO tactics.
When she’s not navigating the digital marketing landscape, you'll find her snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, or SUPing with her husband and their two rescue dogs. She’s an earth steward with a personal mission to make a positive impact in her community, always striving to leave a small footprint and being kind to those around her.
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