An artisan stands in his home studio in southern Spain.

He's working on a new hat.

He sprays something onto the green felt and then nonchalantly sets it on fire.

Flames engulf the hat and rise up to the height of his head, but he doesn't flinch.

After all, it's a process he's repeated hundreds of times.

This is Alejandro Mateo, and his unusual, eye-catching technique has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and celebrity buyers.

The 42-year-old, who is from Almería Province in Andalusia, never intended for this to be his full-time job.

"Initially, this was never meant to be a business or a way of life. It just happened by accident," he says.

A decade ago, he met a woman in Mexico who customised hats and he became inspired.

In 2016, he began teaching himself by using online videos and tutorials while continuing to work for an airline.

It was during the pandemic in 2020 that he quit his job and returned to Almería to devote himself full-time to hatmaking.

That's when things started to take off.

"There were a couple of videos that they got very viral in social media. That was the moment that celebrities start contacting me. You know, getting many orders that you need to find a system to be able to produce all that amount of demand," he says.

He says his buyers tend to be artists or collectors looking for unique pieces.

Celebrity clients include actors Viggo Mortensen, Joe Pantoliano and David Boreanaz.

Now he says he sells 20 to 25 hats in a good month, mostly to the United States.

Prices range from 450 to 800 euros.

Each is handmade using steam, a brim cutter and fire.

Sometimes, he uses a laser engraver to burn motifs into the brim.

As he moves around his studio, taking care not to trip over his dog Chumbo, he appears in full control of his tools and materials.

But it wasn't always this way.

"When I started, it was very difficult to get the information, even to get the tools," he says.

He puts the finishing touches to his latest creation: a black-and-white bandana and his signature three Xs and a needle sewn by hand.

Another one-of-a-kind hat is complete.

Mateo says each hat has a name, such as "Yakuza" and "The Cross." And each, he says, has a story behind it.

But the most remarkable story may be his own: how a craftsman from a quiet corner of Andalusia turned a hobby into a global brand.

AP video by Serge Cartwright