We got a call this morning from a WNYC reporter who had seen Brooklyn designer Catherine Charlot's umbrella bags at our kiosk in Grand Central last summer. The early morning rainstorm had led reporter, Ailsa Chang, to investigate what happened to all those wind torn umbrellas found crumpled in trash cans. I too was thinking of Catherine this morning as I landed at Penn Station during my morning commute. The "umbrella men" had materialized once again. I could hear the voices before I even exited the station. I walked behind one seller who walked up and down the whole taxi cue chanting "umbrella, umbrella, umbrella, pause...and...repeat". Some people stood hiding under their New York Times, others under a plastic bag, but the majority of people clutched their $5 cheap umbrella- bound to break in a few uses. The sellers quickly passed their "disposable products" to those unprepared for the day's skies.
Catherine's designs have caused me to never look at an umbrella the same. Each one is a potential bag or dress, a design and a metaphor. When I see people carrying a particular interesting design, I think about how she would turn it into a clutch or duffel bag. Just last month I found a rainbow leopard umbrella print umbrella discard on the street which I took home and sent to Catherine's company Himane. This upcycling of abandoned umbrellas by Catherine is an amazing example of using abandoned resources for useful (and in her case very fashionable) products.
WNYC reports that one week Catherine collected 237 umbrellas in one week!
Check out the full story here!
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