A rare chink through the keyhole and we are face to face with the elusive Mr Miller – Master Hatter. A discreet man with a sharp mind and sharper scissors still.

He cuts a deft hand into rich Harris tweeds, carving cashmere with fitting fluency – no surprise given Mr Miller has spent the past 30 years crafting hats for the most established luxury houses. 

Mr Miller whirrs off anecdotes to match the cadence of his sewing machine. The confident vantage point of the lifelong hatter feels wildly at odds with his low key manner.

The sujet du jour is the possible revival of the bowler hat. “It’s a literal rendition of the original 1971 movie poster, ” he says, referring to the 2022 Gucci campaign which recreated some of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film scenes from The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut and the controversial 1971 flick, A Clockwork Orange. The iconic British bowler hat of Churchill and Chaplin is worn in the latter iteration and Mr Miller is mildly humoured by the fashionable dalliance between decades and film culture. He flicks past the provocative marriage of period costume with adidas emblems over corsetry in images inspired by Kubrick’s early film Barry Lyndon

Historical references have regularly blended with contemporary culture taking cues from infamous characters and iconic movies. Peaky Blinders, which Mr Miller had a hand in, does just that. It even seeps through the music, Nick Cave merges worlds offering a contemporary lens through which to view the past.

There’s a distinctive style in Peaky Blinders, very British too. “Yeah, that’s timeless. I love an 8 piece, they have been worn forever.” The flat cap / Bakerboy is a time-transcendent object of defiance crossing class, gender and season alike. At first unassuming yet the stealth… it’s everlasting.

Of the quintessentially British Bowler, Mr Miller would like to craft a new iteration, musing “athleisure meets 30’s formality (but with comfort, less rigidity) fused with street-smart style to be worn by people of all ages.” It would remain a steadfast British tradition but brought into the here and now, using new materials and techniques.

Recognisable but more fluid: a concept that permeates through the keyhole of everything he makes.