Travel Destinations: Umbrella Shops: London

After your visit to Paris,, it is short channel hop to London, where you will want to go to Oxford Street to see James Smith and Sons. As touted in the the Daily Telegraph: the umbrella shop "has remained largely unchanged since it moved to the location in 1857 (the shop was originally located in Foubert Place, off Regent Street, where it opened in 1830)." They sell "every conceivable type of men's and women’s umbrellas and parasols, as well as made-to-measure walking sticks (fitted while you wait)."

The Guardian has also listed Smith's as one of the 10 best shops in West London.

For the umbrella tourist, one blogger has chosen an umbrella theme London Walk that takes one to Smith's (or as the blogger would have it: the Umbrella Shop in Hazelwood House, before heading off to the "balcony of THE NATIONAL GALLERY on TRAFALGAR SQUARE when it starts to drizzle" to see thousands of umbrellas open up.

In addition, our London traveler can also visit "Brigg" (properly Swaine Adeney Brigg on St. James Street, but it doesn't focus exclusively on umbrellas. And at least one blogger, after going by Smith's to go to Brigg, then ended  dashing back to Smith's before closing to get what he really wanted!

Taking James Smith and Sons beyond their mark as a tourist destination, the publishers of Cane News [aside: does the Brolly Blog really cover canes? I think not!] have written about the craftsmanship evident at Smith's, but also about the "beauty inside"--particularly pointing to the "the corkscrew cane, the cane containing four dice, a pipe, two silver plated cups and a glass flask with Maplewood stick--or, the special Toulouse-Lautrec version with two glasses, glass flask and a stick made from laminated tropical hardwoods."

However, if you are an Avengers fan, then the most important thing to know about Smith's is that John Steed's "swordstick featured in the title sequence was made by venerable English umbrella maker James Smith & Sons."

Travel Destinations: Umbrella Shops: Paris

Today the New York Times ran a slide show online about Paris, which included "Alexandra Sojfer at her umbrella shop". Given that there were only 20 slides, this certainly raises the stature of umbrellas in the travel industry! Of course, that allowed me to explore a bit and find that this is not just a woman and an umbrella shop, but a renowned umbrella shop with a long history.

As recounted in WishYouWereHere.com: Alexandra Sojfer's "grandfather Georges Gaspard fled Hungary for Paris in 1937 and began handcrafting umbrellas in his atelier.

"He quickly became the go-to parasol outfitter among fashionable parisiennes, and today, Sojfer creates exquisitely detailed brolleys and shaders in the styles he popularized. She hand-crafts every piece in the atelier behind this 1834 storefront on the boulevard Saint-Germain, where she's joined forces with umbrella purveyor Madeleine Gely next door."

I would tell you that, if you cannot travel to Paris, to visit Alexander Sojfer online instead--but, her craftmanship does not extend to the web, at least as of yet, as her site is "under construction"!

Note: While her shop makes it to one of 20 slides in the Times travel section, The Lonely Planet ranks her shop as #1011 of 1469 things to do in Paris and #166 of 616 shopping in France. But should we make it #1 for umbrella folks?

Brollies Lost and Brollies Sold: We Need Our Umbrellas

Today's news from the world of umbrellas has a sad tale from Australia and an economic tale from Pakistan. First, the sad story. According to Cambelltown's Macarthur Chronicle, an Barbara Fulton, from Airds, is hoping an umbrella with sentimental value she lost can be handed back.
She lost the blue umbrella with black polka dots on Saturday, January 30 after she accidentally left it on a fence near the Dumaresq St bus stop. The umbrella was a gift from her daughter, who died of cancer several years ago. Lost Umbrellas are always sad, but we do send our wishes to Barbara.

Further establishing the need for our umbrellas is this story from the Daily Times of Islamabad, which is quoted in its entirely:

With the start of recent rains, a new variety of umbrellas in main and small markets of Rawalpindi and Islamabad has emerged and their sale has witnessed an increase. This news agency observed that the rain forced people to buy the umbrellas for carrying out their routine activities, but the vendors and shopkeepers were taking advantage of the situation and demanding high prices. Talking to this agency, Haq Nawaz, a commuter, termed umbrella an essential item to go out of the home during rain.

Unfortunately, there is no clue as to what are the new variety of umbrellas. Otherwise, this is a dog bites an story--high demand can lead to high prices.

A Luxury Umbrella with a Philosophy

A Neiman Marcus trunk show is featuring umbrellas from Umrelli. Expensive, limited edition umrellas, this Italian line of handmade umbrellas uses art and travel as inspirations and have brass plates indicating their number. But, more important, they have a "Philosophy": "Our mission is to provide an elegant sanctum from inclement weather by utilizing the finest parts, materials, and production expertise." I guess for the money, it is good to have a philosophy to go with the rain protection, although these may be too expensive to expose to the rain, even if they are the "product of an artist who studied through the long Ticino rainy seasons and graduated with great affection for the inspiring beauty and craftsmanship belonging to Southern Switzerland and Italy."

The Deductible Umbrella?: Umbrellas for Charity

According to an article in the East Valley Tribune, what started as a charity umbrella auction in conjunction with a local theater's production of "Singin' in the Rain" turned into a national fundraising effort on behalf of a set of conjoined twins. "Umbrellas dotted with signatures from the likes of Hugh Jackman, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon lined the lobby of Mesa's Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre" in advance of an auction being held at the theater and online on eBay.

Royal Umbrellas: Queen Tours Factory with Royal Warrant

Well, this isn't an umbrella image, but rather the Royal warrant from the home page of Fulton Umbrellas--firms receive a Royal warrant from the Queen for supplying their products to Buckingham Palace. This comes up today, because the Queen is touring factories in London’s East End today (Wednesday). "Her tour with Prince Philip includes the famous Whitechapel bell foundry and the umbrella factory that holds the Royal warrant":

The next stop on the tour is Fulton Umbrellas, a family-run firm in Blackwall, which has been making umbrellas for 50 years.

They tour the warehouse, textile print-shop and umbrella assembly workshop of the company founded by Arnold Fulton in 1959.

Fulton Umbrellas doesn't tell us which umbrella the Queen uses, but they do publish a nice set of rules for taking care of an umbrella:

• Whenever possible leave the umbrella open to dry and avoid rolling when wet
  
• Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight may cause the fabric to fade
  
• Only plain water or white India Rubber should be used to clean the fabric. Detergents may remove the proofing of the cover
  
• All umbrellas may be damaged by strong gusts. Wind damage does not constitute a faulty frame. Most of our umbrellas incorporate flexible frames which allow the umbrellas to invert without damage, but we would advise not using umbrellas in very windy weather.
  
• Special care should be taken when opening our umbrellas with PVC covers. The creases should be gently unfolded before attempting to open the umbrella. The material is lightly dusted with a non-toxic powder to prevent sticking, and this should not be removed.
  
• Most walking length umbrellas, particularly those with wooden shafts, are not designed for use as walking sticks and damage may occur if they are used for this purpose.

For more pictures and story of the Queen's visit, see the East London Advertiser. Among other things, I did learn that "The company’s ‘see through’ umbrella became a trade mark for the Queen Mother who used them on Royal visits during bad weather, so the public could see her clearly."

Trendsetting: Buying Umbrellas in Seattle

Courtney Hatt, a Seattle Style Trends Examiner, writes about taking a plunge into a "new umbrella craze." She says that "the umbrella taking a step forward as a fun, creative accessory to spice up any rainy day outfit." Going shopping for some new rain gear, she draws attention to pare * umbrella--Seattle's own brick and mortar and online store with its "very trendy and original designs."

Fashion Umbrellas: Celebrate National Umbrella Month with Celebrity Brollies

The Chicago Sun-Times shopping maven Jessica Sedgwick honors National Umbrella Month by her readers to treat themselves to a "little undercover fashion." In do so, she quotes Satoko Kobayashi, owner of pare*umbrella, one of several new companies who offer artsy, statement-making umbrellas: "Now is the time people have started to think, 'Now we need something more than a compact umbrella. Something beautiful to carry around.' "

Sedgwick goes further, in her Sun-Times shopping blog, to point us to famous movie umbrellas and where to find them. In particular, she highlights the "Singin' in the Rain/Batman Returns" black stick umbrella, the "Lost in Translation" clear umbrella, and the "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" stick umbrellas "in every color including red, pink blue and yellow."