Summary – conceptual map of the blog

Visual arts – in our blog you can discover, that umbrellas appear in all kinds of visual arts: photography, painting and street art (link), movies (link), on the book or magazine covers (link1, link2) or on the stamps (link)…

Media – what’s the link between umbrellas and the media? It often appears in the ads (link), magazines (link), books and music (link).

Technology – how is the umbrella built? What are the innovative ideas to make it more useful? And how can we use the ‘umbrella technology’ to help the photographers? The answers hide here! (link)

Ideas – umbrellas don’t have to be boring. There are many crazy ideas connected to them, many different functions and uses. Check them out! (link)

Facts – do you know what’s the Hungarian word for umbrella? Or what is the secret of Nicholas Sarkozy’s umbrella? Find out! (link)

History – here you can find some information about the origin of the umbrella, as well as it’s different historical uses (link)

 

And if you would like to learn something about different objects, like computer mouse or calculator, or get to know some interesting things about the objects in general, their history and taxonomy, you should visit our Main Blog.

Umbrellas for every day

We would like to share with you our “umbrella week plan”, a set of different umbrellas for every day of the week.

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Taxonomy. Chosen book – Anna Langier

Title: “The sun also rises” (also known as “Fiesta”)

Author: Ernest Hemingway

First publication: 1926

Original language: English

The book is about Jake Barnes and his friends, a group of American expatriates living in Paris. Most of them are writers, partying all the time and spending plenty of money. Jake is in love with Brett, a beautiful and mysterious woman, who likes to have a lot of fun and tends to have many boyfriends at the same time. The whole group, including also Mike, Robert Cohn and Bill Gorton, decides to go for a fiesta to Pamplona, a town in Spain. During the fiesta a lot of dramatic situations occur, full of jealousy, passion, love and hate. Under the Spanish sun, friends become lovers or enemies.

TAXONOMY EXERCISE

Personal division (chronological):

Jake Barnes 

envelope, chair, typewriter, table, cab, wine, beer, jersey, hanger, coat, letter, lamp, bed, mirror, armoire, bandage, dressing gown, clock, glass, coffee, brioche, cigarette, elevator, desk, stationery, telegram, bathrobe, slippers,  jug, towel, ticket, sandwich, bottle, rod, net, passport, motor-car, collar, paper, wine-bag, cork, fork, pitcher, bowl, shoe, tobacco-tin, tackle-bag, reels, leaders, bait-can, landing-net, hook, key, pot, cup

Robert Cohn

magazine, book, coffee, novel, cards, bottle, bicycle, plate, beer, coffee, shampoo

Brett

sweater, skirt, soda, hat, letter, roses, siphon, glasses, champagne, cigarette, ash-tray, rug, card, stockings, beret, dress

Bill Gorton

card, bag, coat, watch, letter, coffee, baggage, wicker chair, razor, piano, sheet, rucksack, shoe-shine

Count

champagne, basket, stick, bottle, cigar-case, cutter, cigar, watch, vest, shirt, button, brandy

Geographical division (chronological):

Paris

envelope, chair, typewriter, table, cab, wine, beer, jersey, hanger, coat, letter, lamp, bed, mirror, armoire,  bandage, dressing gown, clock, glass, coffee, brioche, cigarette, elevator, desk, stationery, telegram, bathrobe,  slippers, jug, towel, magazine, book,  novel, cards, bottle, bicycle, plate, sweater, skirt, soda, hat, roses, siphon, glasses, champagne, ash-tray, rug, stockings, basket, stick, cigar-case, cutter, cigar, vest, shirt, button, brandy, bag

Spain

ticket, sandwich, bottle, rod, net, passport, cigarette, coat, motor-car, collar, telegram, paper, wine-bag, cork, fork, pitcher, bowl, shoe, tobacco-tin, takcle-bag, rod, reels, leaders, bait-can, landing-net, hook, key, pot, cup, beer, coffee, shampoo, beret, dress, baggage, wicker-chair, razor, piano, sheet, rucksack, shoe-shine

Alphabetical division:

Armoire, ash-tray, Bag, baggage, bait-can, bandage, basket, bathrobe, bed, beer, beret, bicycle, book, bottle, bowl, brandy, brioche, button, Cab, cards, chair, champagne, cigar, cigar-case, cigarette, clock, coat, coffee, collar, cork, cup, cutter, Desk, dress, dressing gown, Elevator, envelope, fork, Glass, glasses, Hanger, hat, hook, Jersey, jug, Key, Lamp, landing-net, leaders, letter, Magazine, mirror, motor-car, Net, novel, Paper, passport, piano, pitcher, plate, pot, Razor, reels, rod, roses, rucksack,rug, Sandwich, shampoo, sheet, shirt, shoe, shoe-shine, siphon, skirt, slippers, soda, stationery, stick, stockings, sweater, Table, takcle-bag, telegram, ticket, tobacco-tin, towel, typewriter, Vest, Wicker-chair, wine, wine-bag

Taxonomy. Chosen book – Anna Tybor

Title: “Romeo and Juliet”

Author: William Shakespeare

First publication: 1597

Original language: English

The famous love story takes place in Verona. Romeo and Juliet are young and in love, but unfortunately they belong to two Veronese families that have always been fighting with each other. But the couple wants to stay together despite all the odds. The story has a tragic end – the most dramatic and romantic death in the history of literature.

TAXONOMY EXERCISE

Personal division (chronological):

Juliet

Bench, tree, stone, weapons, mask, dress, shoes, food, vine, chair, table, bottle, bowl, glasses, plates, jewel, lips, wall, balcony, window, reling, moon, starts, eyes, glove, rose, garden wall, branch, leaves, wings, plants, heart, letter, grave, poison, tomb, flowers, ring

Romeo

Bench, tree, brick, stone, castle, sword, crutch, weapons, piece of paper, masks ,hat, shirt, trousers, stick,wig, violin, belt,shoes, sweet things, food, vine, chair, table, bottle, bowl, glasses, plates, carpet, jewel, sword, lips, wall, balcony, window, railing, moon, stars, eyes, glove, rose, garden wall, branch, leaves, wings heart, letter,book, cell, sword, grave, ring, poison, knife, ladder, tomb, flowers, gold, coins, metal bar, skulls, dagger

Friar Laurence

 plants, bed, shelf, window, candles, poisonous plants, medicinal plants, rake, seeds, letter, book, ladder, cell, grave, tomb

Paris

sword, knife, dagger, tomb, grave, flowers, ring

Mercutio

sword

Benvolio

sword

Tybalt

sword

 Alphabetical division:

Bed, belt, bench, book, bottle, bowl, branch, brick, Candles, carpet, castle, cell, chair, coins, crown, crutch, Dagger, dress, Eyes, Flowers, food, Garden wall, glasses, glove, gold, grave, Hat, Jewel, Knife, Ladder, leaves, letter, lips, Masks, medicinal plants, metal bar, moon, Piece of paper, plants, plates, poison, poisonous plants, Railing, rake, ring, rose, Seeds, shelf,  shirt, shoes, skulls, stars, stick, stone, sweet things, sword, Table, thumb, tomb, tree, trousers, tuxedo, Vine, violin, Weapons, wig, window, wings

Vogue covers

The umbrellas have appeared many times on the covers of the most popular fashion magazine – Vogue. We’d like to show you some examples:

American Vogue, August 1910

American Vogue, June 1915

American Vogue, December 1915

British Vogue, April 1917

British Vogue, July 1919

American Vogue, April 1922

American Vogue, May 1924

American Vogue, February 1933

American Vogue, September 1945

American Vogue, April 1948

French Vogue, 1950

American Vogue, July 1954

British Vogue, July 1957

American Vogue, July 1960

American Vogue, January 1963

Chinese Vogue, October 2012

Umbrella in the comics

Here you can see some comic covers, in which the umbrellas appear:

Imagination

We’d like to share with you an amazing video, really short, but with an “idea”, not only interesting, also beautifully presented.

Creative umbrellas

Umbrellas can be unconventional! Below you can see some examples of the most interesting ideas.

Golf Umbrella by Sebastian Errazuriz

Clock Parasol – Thanks to the pattern on the surface and  tha compas in the handle, the umbrella can be used as a sun clock.

 

Urban Combat Umbrella

Long Umbrella – gives you full rain protection!

Shoe Umbrella

Handbag Umbrella by Seung Hee Son – it can be folded into a little handbag

Couple Umbrella – a practical solution for couples!

Shoulder Umbrella – leaves your hands free, wrapping around your shoulder

Source: http://www.funtoxin.com/2011/07/11/35-unusual-and-creative-umbrellas/

Sending umbrellas…

Umbrellas are sometimes represented on stamps. Below you can find a few examples.

American stamps; they are often occasional, e.g. the one in the middle is the stamp for the baby shower invitations.

Russian stamp from 1973, entitled “A woman dressed in white”

Christmas Island Christmas stamp from 1960

Italian stamp from 1976

A special Vatican stamp prepared in 2005 because of the “sede vacante” – the period without a Pope. It presents an angel holding an umbrella with two keys under it – it is a symbol of “sede vacante”.

Danish stamp from 1991

Interesting facts

There are many things we don’t know about umbrellas yet!

• Umbrellas can be used as offensive and defensive weapon. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was first who started using Kevlar coated umbrella as a part of his security measures.
• Umbrella can be used offensively as a weapon, or its shaft can effectively hide a secret blade. Modern security agencies are known to modify umbrellas for their secret purposes. For example, Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov was assassinated in 1978 by KGB agent who carried deadly poison in his modified umbrella.
• Majority of modern umbrellas are made in China. One city in China (Shangyu) has over thousand umbrella factories.
• Many religions adopted umbrellas and parasols as a part of their ceremonies and processions.
• Chinese paper umbrellas represent one of the most celebrated umbrellas in modern religions. They are viewed as bringers of good fortune, wars against evil spirits, bringers of longevity and are used in many celebration ceremonies, most notably weddings, young males rite-of-passage, and funerals.
• Brolliology is the study of umbrellas. Brolliologists usually study the origin and history of umbrellas.
• The annual market for umbrellas, in the United States alone, is around 350 milion dollars.

from: http://www.umbrellahistory.net/umbrella-facts/interesting-facts-about-umbrellas/

Gary Durow is the person who probably has the biggest knowledge about umbrellas. He has a huge collection of many different kinds of this interesting object. To learn more about him and his ‘treasures’ you can watch this short documentary: