ABOUT
HEC STUDIO
Hi, I’m Sarah Haske Buchanan.
I was born & raised in the magical Buena Vista, Colorado. I’ve traveled around the world & lived in several places, but Colorado has always had my heart. HEC Studio is based out of Fairplay, Colorado at 10,300 ft.
My journey started almost 10 years ago with heartache, grief, & loss. In those very dark times is when I found my sewing machine & my canvas…hats! At this point I needed my own home, studio, & space to start this new journey of life & creating hats. This is where my girl Lucy comes in….
Lucy the Bus
I had some friends that started & ran a non profit origination called “Bus to Show”. Bus to show is to keep drunk drivers off the road, help eliminate the amount of cars driving/parking at shows around Colorado, but allowing people to still have fun and be safe. This is where I first heard of skoolie/bus life. At this time I realized that the platform of a school bus is exactly what I needed for a home and studio.
To top it off Im a gypsy at heart and the bus has wheels which enables me to move wherever my heart desires. Lucy is my dream machine - my 40ft school bus that I bought and named Lucy. One of the founders of “Bus to Show”,Charles Kern, is the bus guru guy. He converts school buses into tiny homes and other spaces. Charlie was my “main man” on the the build of Lucy with another friend named Ben, who did all the custom wood work and cabinets within the bus. I did the entire demo of Lucy myself and then hired Charles and Ben to help with the build!
I remember when I first bought Lucy, I was in the bar toasting with my friends that I bought a 40’ school bus. I’ve never even driven a bus at that point, but that didn’t stop me! I didn’t know A SINGLE thing about school buses and now I know A LOT and also drive one like a pro! Lucy was the perfect stepping stone for HEC Studio, I needed this space for my business to grow into what it is now.
Lucy is fully off grid pulling 1800 watts of power through her 6 solar panels that line the roof of the bus (also with a roof top deck up there too)! All hats are sewn and made with solar power thus making a sustainable product too!! Lucy also has a 100 gallon water tank (lasts about 2 weeks, with careful usage) composting toilet, full shower, full kitchen (stove, sink, and fridge) and plenty of working and living space!! For more info & pictures of Lucy please click on the “Lucy The Bus” tab!
It’s been 4 years of working & living out of Lucy. I recently bought a house with my husband, Ian Buchanan which has even further catapulted HEC Studio into a very successful hat business!
I love creating all day, but something wasn’t fully satisfying me. Then a school invited me to come in and talk to kids about being an entrepreneur artist and that’s when it all clicked. This is not just about making hats, this is also an empowerment piece!! You too can do anything you set you mind to! I love sharing my story & drive with others to demonstrate how hard work and a dream can come true. Even if life has given you a bunch of lemons, make a tasty sweet lemonade out of it, cause we all have hard times - its how you deal with adversity!
We are now celebrating 5 years of being in business as HEC Studio! Follow along on the ride of HEC Studio on our Instagram or Facebook!!
Thanks for your time, love, support, & keeping my dream ALIVE always!
Much love,
SARAH & LUCY
Meet the Team
Ian
Ian is my husband & helps in so many areas of HEC Studio!! He wears many hats in the business & here’s a few: Photographer, model, entrepreneur, marketing, merchandising, on site booth manager, cocktail maker, architect, mechanic, chef, designer, consultant, security, #1 sales-man, therapist, fashion consultant, mastermind, tech support, #1 fan, & the list goes on…..
Truxton, AKA Trux, AKA “The Supervisor”
Truxton is our 2 year old rescue cat that runs a tight ship with his “supervising” job of managing HEC Studio. His personality is usually predictably unpredictable. A few of his duties would include…Studio re-organizer, sewing quality control, model, emotional support animal, comic relief, & being ornery as hell. Follow Trux’s job or sleeping on the job over at our Instagram page @hecstudio!
Lucy
Lucy is my dream machine/ freedom vessel!! She is a 40ft AmTran International Genesis, DT-466, Allison MT643 school bus. She was born in 1997 & has lived two lives before she found me! She originally worked in the Aspen, Colorado school district as a sports bus, then moved to Colorado Springs, CO for moving more kiddos for the Colorado Christian Academy! Now she lives her very best life as my soul sister and dream machine & lives for being on the road together!! SO thankful for her in every way!!
Max the Machine
Max is my industrial sewing machine that is inlayed in my studio desk within Lucy. Max runs off of solar power & was the biggest game changer for me, as I was hand sewing every swatch onto the hat! Max is also living his second best life, he was originally used for sewing leather shoes in a factory & now lives a nice retired life at HEC Studio. Max is a Kingmax GC810
Preston
Preston is my die cutting press that has changed my life. Before I got Preston I was hand cutting every single piece of fabric, talk about time consuming! Preston is a Tippmann Clicker 700 Die Cut Press, that runs off of air compression. With having Preston I can now cut several pieces of fabric in seconds with a click of a button! SO thankful to have recently just added Preston to the team!
Emerald
Emerald is my smaller portable sewing machine & sews all the hat swatches before they go onto the hats that Max sews on. Emerald is a Husqvarna “Emerald 1600 series”.
