Tuesday 29 July 2008

If you steal my sunshine...

It was my birthday on Saturday. In past years I've had very silly picnics and booze-a-thons, but it's been a pretty difficult few weeks and I just felt like spending it with my family.

And shopping.

I'll post my purchases later, when I've photographed them. Meanwhile, a post about my lovely dad's birthday present to me - I spent a happy hour in my favourite umbrella, swordstick, cane and life-preserver emporium, choosing my present.



I picked out two umbrellas - a big one for dark, rainy days, and a small one for toting about town when the weather is less inevitably filthy.



The little one:





It makes me think of Gustav Klimt paintings and the endless joy of school days at the back of the classroom, armed with a shakeable gold pen and a shiny new exercise book.

And the big one:





The photo doesn't do it justice - it's got a nice weight to it, with a wooden shaft and exquisite thick silky fabric which shimmers beautifully in the sunlight.

Two of my favourite things about JS&S:

- they can put together a semi-bespoke umbrella for you, for little more than the standard brolly price, because they keep the heads and frames in their workshop downstairs. I very nearly plumped for a Quant-patterned brolly with a crimson resin parrot for a handle, but they hadn't the parrot head in stock.

- they stamp their larger brollies with their beautiful silver nameplate:



I think I should start naming my umbrellas.

This concludes my umbrella geekery for this week.

5 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Gosh what pretty umbrellas. I love how the inside is a contrast to the outside. I'd never have thought of that.

HAPPY Belated BIRTHDAY!

Gen Williams said...

Thank you!

It's just in the way the fabric is woven - the thread colours show up in reverse on the other side, like nice silk fabric. How I love my brollies...

Make Do Style said...

Gorgeous umnbrellas and what a delight to be intorduced to such a marvellous emporium.

Sinners Saint said...

I didnt see that JS&S had those fabrics for their brollies, but those look amazing! i must get one for my girlfriend. can you tell me where to turn for those?

Gen Williams said...

I think they change the stock pretty regularly so it might just be that you can't get that fabric any more. I don't know if it's the case for all their in-house umbrellas, but I think they get certain amounts of a fabric and just use it up in the workshop, then move on to something else. It's always worth popping back though - I've never been in and not found something I wanted!