Umbrellas 2.0

For this fun little NGM piece about the future of umbrellas, I interviewed three different inventors/designers. I wish there had been more space to convey just how passionate they all were about what seems, on the surface, like such a simple device. And they aren't the only ones with a lot to say about umbrellas! In the course of research, I came across an entire quirky old book about "that dearest and truest friend in need and indeed, the Umbrella."

The author, writing in the 1860s, pities those who lived in less modern times:

"Strange to say, it is a fact, melancholy enough, but for that all too true, that our forefathers, scarce seventy years ago, meekly endured the pelting of the pitiless storm without that protection vouchsafed to their descendants by a kind fate and talented inventors."

Oh, the horror!