When you look at our Instagram feed, you’ll notice that one of the most popular comments on any pic of our umbrella is “fun,” “cute,” or “so fun,” or “too cute.”
One of the people responsible for that reaction is Nicole Hammonds, a freelance web designer, graphic artist, blogger, Instagram-er, traveler and adventurist who happens to be part of the Mother-Daughter team that started Vinrella.
Since then, she’s been working hard as a designer for each of the 30+ unique umbrellas you’ll find on our website – each with a designer pattern that evokes a different mood, fits a unique personality or hits upon a different fashion trend.
We asked her a few questions about Vinrella and how she gets inspired as their umbrella designer.
1. Many people know about Vinrella’s Wine Bottle Umbrellas, but you just released five new designs for a water bottle umbrella. How did that product come about?
The water bottle umbrella came about because we saw a need for an even more compact umbrella. We wanted to expand our line to offer an product that could clip to your bag, fit in your backpack and act as the perfect on-the-go-designer-umbrella.
2. What are you looking for when creating a Vinrella design or pattern?
When creating Vinrella patterns, we look at fashion trends, Pantone color trends, and just beautiful shapes and patterns that we find in nature or while traveling. We compile photos of found colors, shapes and patterns that we love and design our own geometric patterns with eye-catching color based on those images.
Photo taken at Alhambra, Spain
3. Where do you get inspiration for the umbrella designs?
We get inspiration by paying close attention to our surroundings. We take note of color palettes in nature, current fashion trends and in art. We might find an interesting pattern in a building or on wall paper or in a book. Our White Galaxy water bottle umbrella (pictured at the top of this article) is named that for a reason. The stars in the sky create patterns of their own, which inspired this design.
The Rookery Building, Chicago - an example of Inspiration for our Art Deco Umbrella (Pictured Below)
4. We know you love to travel—are there any designs that have come directly from a favorite country or destination?
Our tribal wine bottle umbrella (editor’s note: that’s one of my favorites) design is inspired by African textile patterns that are so intricate and beautiful. We have not yet been there for inspiration, but we love looking to other cultures to see what style of art is made around the world. We have spent time in Napa Valley getting inspiration for wine label design, since those are some of our most popular products. In the future, we would like to incorporate some of the patterns we’ve found around the world into our designs. We have heaps of travel photos from Morocco, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Spain and more. In each place we’ve collected ideas which are sure to come across in our designs.
5. Any place in particular place or travel destination you’d recommend for design inspiration?
Morocco, particularly, is an amazing place for artistic inspiration because their art and architecture is full of color and highly detailed patterns:
Nicole takes in the bold, blue colors of a quiet street in Chefchaouen, Morocco
Feeling inspired yourself? Explore our many designs and find a designer umbrella that fits your personality.