Oliver Dominguez not only paints hats. He actually makes them.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: September 24, 2025
Host: Oliver Dominguez wears many hats. He wants to publish the ultimate book on the history of hats. Hats are the theme of many of his paintings, drawings and prints. And he actually makes hats and sells them. WSLR News caught up with Dominguez during an exhibition opening Tuesday night at the Fogartyville Community Center.
Johannes Werner: The Dominguez paintings exhibited at the Fogartyville all center around hats. There are stylized ballet dancers—inspired by his dancing wife—wearing 1920s-style hats. There’s an old man—apparently a hatmaker—carrying his tools and dozens of hats like balloons floating in the air. And there’s that hatmaking boy in a workshop.
Both his father and grandfather were jewelry designers back in Colombia. But it was his grandfather, always wearing dapper suits and hats, who inspired him to get into hats.
Oliver Dominguez (right)
Oliver Dominguez: My grandfather was a really fashionable person. That’s where I think it all started.
JW: Dominguez is an illustrator, and that’s what he teaches at Ringling College of Art and Design. The hat thing started with headcovers popping up in most of his paintings.
OD: From early 1920s to the 1940s—kind-of mid-century—and I’ve always been drawn to it because I’ve always been inspired by old American illustrators like Norman Rockwell, Dean Cornwell, N.C. Wyeth—all these—J.C. Leyendecker—I love their design. I love their fashion.
JW: All that led him to come up with the idea of creating a book on the history of hats, illustrated by himself.
OD: …create a book about the history of hats and where it came from. An illustrated book on the history of hats. There’s numerous books of history of hats, but no one has ever illustrated a book. There is history behind it, and I think every time I work on a piece, work on a painting, or work on a hat, I do my research. I try to understand the idea of creating something or the idea of who that person was.
JW: But it’s not just about illustrating hats and talking about their history. Oliver Dominguez actually designs and makes them. He learned the trade with hatmakers in the United States, he has a workshop at his home in Coral Springs, he created a brand, and he brought a rack with his hats for sale to the exhibition opening.
OD: I’ve always been a collector of hats. I was always curious about how a hat was made, so I started interviewing hatmakers and understanding how a hat is made, and how the hands make these types of products. That was the whole intention of it: to understand how to create that craft.
For my inspiration, it always started with my paintings. That’s always been an ongoing—every character I’ve created, they always have a hat. They always tell some sort of story. When you put on a hat, you become someone else.
JW: Oliver Dominguez’s art will be on display until mid-October at the Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court, in the Rosemary District.
Johannes Werner, reporting for WSLR News.
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