Laura Wortman (Pendleton) is a western hat maker who apprenticed with Native American master hatter Nat Funmaker in Arizona. At the end of the apprenticeship she bought Montana Peaks Hat Co. and moved it to Pendleton, Oregon.
Bio
Laura Wortman is a hat maker who starts with felted-fur hat bodies made in Tennesee. Wortman steams and sizes the bodies, shapes them, and then adds hatbands, satin hat liners, and ribbons. As a child growing up in Rochester, New York in the 1950s, she was fascinated by the local hat maker, though it was many years before had her own shop. After her daughter graduated from high school, Laura worked on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona where she met Native American master hatter Nat Funmaker. She worked as his apprentice, and at the end of the apprenticeship she learned that the owner of Montana Peaks Hat Co. was going to retire. She bought the business and moved it to Pendleton, Oregon. Wortman works with her partner, Richard Blackburn to make a variety of custom hats. Their shop in Pendleton is filled with hats, old and new. Their antique hat-making machines require a lot of attention, but Blackburn is familiar with all of their quirks. Once Montana Peaks Hat Co. opened, the shop had plenty of business; word-of-mouth quickly spread—no advertising has been necessary. Wortman uses only the finest quality genuine fur felt. She measures a customer’s head with an old-fashioned conformer, which establishes the head shape—necessary to ensure a custom fit. Wortman makes almost any kind of hat—Montana Peaks even supplies the Disney Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in Paris with all of its hats. She also makes many hats for the Round-Up and for all of Pendleton’s rodeo royalty.
