Episode 6: Deborah Pocock LVO and Jo Smith (QEST)

London Hat Week at Home
Episode 6: Deborah Pocock LVO and Jo Smith (QEST)

In this episode, Georgina Abbott interviews Deborah Pocock LVO, CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) and Jo Smith, QEST Trustee and General Manager of British clothing company DAKS Simpson Ltd. Find out the story behind the Trust’s support of British craftsmanship and how to apply for funding.

London Hat Week was founded in 2014 by British Hat Guild members Georgina Abbott of Atelier Millinery and Becky Weaver of HATalk to celebrate the craft of hat making. The majority of visitors to London Hat Week are independent designers running small businesses as makers and online retailers through their own websites and other channels such as Etsy.

Like most areas, the industry as a whole has been hit hard by the lockdown as most occasion hats are destined for large gatherings such as weddings and horse racing. In the UK, the Summer season is the equivalent of Christmas to other trades.

We are proud of our manifesto of celebrating hats and celebrating London in the city that is home to some of the most talented milliners in the world, and this time we aim to include even more hat enthusiasts than ever before! London Hat Week hopes to lift everyone’s spirits a little and play our part in recovery from these very difficult times.

Web and social

Instagram @londonhatweek
Twitter @londonhatweek
Facebook /londonhatweek/
Donation link for Brain Tumour Research

This episode was first published on the Morley Radio website in June 2020