It's winter in Melbourne and it is wet. This is a good excuse to look at stylish umbrellas. I have on my wish list a Fortuny fabric umbrella, that I spied sometime ago while searching the net. I think it is practical to have a container that holds a few umbrellas by the front door, but they must be stylish. (I keep the ugly ones that somehow one acquires, in the boot of the car.) A lovely umbrella inspires you to appreciate the rain and is a pleasure to put up and admire its design. I have a special old one that belonged to my partner's grandfather that has a silver handle and a couple of other smart ones that are nice and large, but a Fortuny one would be a lovely thing to own. We plan on visiting Italy at the end of the year so one of these will be on my shopping list.
In the meantime I have located some very old umbrellas that I found years ago and they have pretty handles, but the fabrics are perished. I have always planned to make patterns and renovate these umbrellas so stay tuned.