Umbrellas have been around for more than 3,000 years, but young designers are trying to reinvent them.
They get lost. They poke people in the eye. They misbehave on windy days.
But umbrellas are one of the design classics of the modern world. From Mary Poppins to the Mikado to burlesque dancing routines, they feature regularly in popular culture. More than 5,000 models are on sale on Amazon. One city, Songxia in China, is able to make 500 million a year in more than 1,000 dedicated factories.