Fashion Statement

There's more to these belt buckles than meets the eye

By Kat Ford

It seems artists have a hard time articulating the thoughts behind what they create," Tom Mauldin, owner of the functional accessory brand HookNHide, laments. A quick scroll through HookNHide's website or social media account tells a well-branded story inspired by Southeastern wildlife and the outdoorsman lifestyle. Still, somewhere in the harmonic notes of his smooth Southern drawl, a faint cacophony demands attention. It's the type of dissonance you feel while standing in a gallery space, knowing you haven't quite understood the deeper meaning of the exhibition.

Born in New Orleans, LA, and raised in Columbia, SC, Tom first picked up a gun when he was 10, developing a love of hunting and learning the rules of good sportsmanship. He and his father often woke early, joining his uncles and grandfather as they maneuvered the southern Louisiana marshes of his grandfather's hunting and fishing leases for ducks, redfish and crawfish in a pirogue. In South Carolina, he delved deeper into wing shooting. In Highlands, NC, where his mother's family vacationed generationally, Tom spent his summer days walking to the Highlands Biological Station, searching for salamanders, snakes and butterflies. Though he lived in urban areas, he and his friends spent every moment they could in the hinterlands, developing a life-long love for watching the sun rise and set. Listening to Mauldin muse over these memories conjures imagery of a romanticized childhood found on the much-loved pages of a different Tom’s story, one with the last name Sawyer.

While an appreciation for nature set roots in his soul, his creative experiences began to branch. He graduated from Hampden–Sydney College with a degree in visual arts. Here, he experimented with mold making and practiced wax carving for lost wax casting, a process he already knew. Tom's mother, Melanie Mauldin, owned Hand Picked, a chain of jewelry stores throughout the Southeast, where she designed and manufactured silver accessories. His mother's success piqued his interest and fostered a desire to find a career path that included the visual arts, a journey that would take him over a decade to whittle into existence.

After college, Tom moved to the Florida Keys, selling marine products and pursuing outdoor activities unique to this portion of the Southeast’s natural landscape. After receiving a belt buckle as a gift, evoking his urge to create, he carved a buckle with a fish-shaped bottle opener. He showed the wax carving to Melanie, who encouraged him to join her on a foundry trip. "The original pieces were sterling and gifted to family and friends," says Tom, "I was just moonlighting at first." Eventually, Tom found a foundry that could execute production through a true artistic partnership. Needing a sturdier metal than silver to protect the functional integrity of a bottle opener, he chose a metallurgical mixture called tumbaga, offering a golden-silver luster that patinas over time.

Encouraged by the reactions of those closest to him, Tom applied and was juried into Charleston's Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. This 41-year-old, three-day event currently boasts 500 artists and 40,000 attendees, generating an estimated $33 million in economic impact annually. During his first show, the team at Orvis approached him to be a part of their holiday catalog. This, along with the buzz created from an article in the Post and Courier convinced Tom he could turn his appreciation for the natural beauty of the Southern coasts into a profession blending two passions.

Now, HookNHide offers dozens of Tom's creations in his signature tumbaga mixture. New designs begin with a sketch and require an arduous eight-stage process over three months, giving every piece a unique and subtle characteristic. Each buckle is stamped HNH and individually numbered, showcasing its origin and numeric lineage from the initial prototype. Clients often request early or favorite numbers; sterling and gold versions are available by special order. HookNHide also caters to a growing private-label clientele. With a minimum order of 25, your brand, logo or custom design could be the most talked-about corporate gift this Christmas. HookNHide enthusiasts anxiously await Tom's new functional art product lines- architectural elements and home goods.

HookNHide merchandise can be found online and on the plateau at the Highland Hiker. Throughout the year, Tom displays booths at acclaimed festivals and shows, including the plateau's Bear Shadow Festival, Charleston's Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, Junior League holiday market shows and wildlife art festivals throughout the Southeast. Visiting the HookNHide booth, you'll find natural elements used for displays and likely hear Tom telling a story about one of the conservation groups where he's donated inventory for charity or Southern hunting traditions. These moments, while listening to Tom's encyclopedia-like knowledge of flora, fauna and the outdoor lifestyle, are where you ponder the metaphoric gallery space, knowing you are missing a crucial proclamation in the artist's body of work.

Then, it hits you; not in his stories, but in how they remind you of your own. It's the seafood gumbo recipe in Grandmom’s handwriting and inheriting your grandfather's shotgun. It's Daddy's voice, lecturing about campfire safety and the heartache when your favorite field turns into a new development. It's faded photos of childhood friends swimming in rivers and hoping your kids get to experience catching tadpoles. In the abstractness of unique memories pulling on the collective heartstrings of Southern heritage, chords begin to harmonize, and the symphony is revealed. It's a native son's love of the ecosystem he grew up in and the traditions he grew up on, attempting to capture the magic, hoping to articulate the importance. It's a sense of place and a call to stewardship. HookNHide belt buckles double as a bottle opener, but Tom Mauldin's artistic statement says so much more. Visit www.hooknhide.com for more information.