Adam Savage's Maker Faire 2012 Talk: Why We Make

[Video Link] It was so great to see Adam Savage at Maker Faire again this year. Thousands of people crammed into the the giant Fiesta Hall for Adam's presentation.

Adam started by talking about his fedora, which is a replica of the one Harrison Ford wore in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. He explained that the hat was made by a guy named Marc Kitter. Unable to find an accurate Indiana Jones fedora, Kitter taught himself millenary, so he could make one for himself.

After Kitter got good at hat making, he started his own company, the Adventurebilt Hat Company, which makes 40 to 50 pure beaver felt fedoras per year for $650 each. They are so good that Harrison Ford wears an Adventurebilt in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I wonder how many extra orders Kitter got as a result of Adam's talk?

• [David]

  Huh… Watching “Mythbusters,” it always looked like Adam’s hat had a wider brim than the one Harrison wore in the movies… Is this an optical delusion, or did Adam tweak the proportions for better sun coverage?

  • [penguinchris]

    Well he did say that the hat makers saw him wearing their previous, less-correct model on the show and contacted him about making their accurate one for him.

    But I think what you’re actually referring to is the hat he wore even before that one – the one he wore all the time in the early seasons of the show. It’s a brown wide-brim felt hat but the resemblance ends there – it’s more like an Australian outback hat.

    Since a few years ago, other than when they do Indiana Jones or other movie myths he doesn’t regularly wear a hat on the show.

    That said… looking at this particular hat in the video, it does feel like it has a wider brim. But… I happen to have a “Raiders” poster hanging in the room with me right now, and it actually appears quite correct. I’d guess Ford’s differently-shaped head and face and the rest of his costume (particularly the leather jacket) makes the proportions appear different.

• [Henrik Treadup]

  The link to Adventure Built Hats is incorrect.
  Currently it is http://www.adventurebilthats.com/i but it should be http://www.adventurebilthats.com/
  I.e. the letter ‘i’ is appended to the correct address.

• [nickelrocket]

  check your link:  http://www.adventurebilthats.com/

  • [dcox]

    The original Indiana Jones hat was an Akubra – an Australian hat

• [Rich Keller]

  Hell, yeah! What he said!

  I really, really needed to see this when I did.

  Thanks.

• [Compwalla]

  We were there! Front row!  It was a lovely talk and we really enjoyed his appearance. Maker Faire all-around was a great time. My son came home and immediately disassembled three flashlights so he could mess about with their innards. 

• [Pathduck]

  “Because I want to be Han Solo!”
  Yeah! Me too! :D

• [Han van der Heide]

  millenary should be millinery