Women's hats, fascinators, and pillbox hats.

There were times when no one left the house bareheaded. A hat was a social obligation, a sign of status, a mark of good taste – pre-war Warsaw had dozens of millinery shops, and the profession of milliner was one of those that co-created the city's daily elegance. After the war, all of this crumbled over a few decades: bare heads, Sunday indifference, millinery pushed to the margins of fashion and memory.

Ms. Maria Wąsiewicz is one of the last people who remember how it was done, and she continues to do it. Felting the crowns, stretching them over wooden blocks, steaming, shaping the brims, finishing with ribbons, veils, and feathers – each hat is made by hand in her workshop, in the same way it was made when Warsaw was a city of ladies' hats. The workshop is modest, but it's the modesty of a place where everything is in its right spot and where there was time and a warm welcome for coffee and cake.

Mrs. Maria is talking about closing her studio. After so many years, she thinks these might be her last seasons. We're treating this as a challenge and a mission – to ensure her studio doesn't disappear from the map of Warsaw, that this piece of the city's craft tradition can still be saved. Come in, order a hat, tell your friends. This place deserves to endure.