Umbrella Magazine

30/09/2022

This is great: the story of the houses built on top of the Arndale.

Hayley Flynn on the shopping centre's forgotten flats and the beat clubs that came before

12/04/2022

New on the website! A fantastic book on the history of logos. Is your favourite here? https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/first-signs-logo-beginnings-by-jens-muller

A beautifully illustrated new book tells the story of the how business emblems came to define not just the companies they represented, but a whole way of life.

01/04/2022

What's your favourite city crest? Here are 10 of our favourites. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/badges-of-honour-our-favourite-city-crests

Every city has a logo, but which one best represents its people? Umbrella writers take us through their personal favourites…

25/01/2022

From the print mag: perhaps our greatest ever article – Europe's coolest pensioners. Click on it to expand.

04/01/2022

When flying saucers came to the Pennines. Fascinating folk mystery from Rik Moran. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/chance-encounters-alien-abduction-in-the-pennines

Photographer Rik Moran’s new book looks at the strange case of PC Alan Godfrey in Todmorden, 1980.

30/12/2021

One of the key Umbrella stories: why Benidorm is one of the best planned cities in the world: https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/city-guide-benidorm

17/12/2021

Flying saucers! 1970s coppers! Amazing photo book by on alien abduction on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border. Interview and images here: https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/chance-encounters-alien-abduction-in-the-pennines

Photographer Rik Moran’s new book looks at the strange case of PC Alan Godfrey in Todmorden, 1980.

06/12/2021

Everyone loves Euston station, right? No? Oh. Anyway, whatever you think of it, you'll like this. https://londonist.com/london/transport/this-brochure-brags-about-bulldozing-euston-station

Goodbye friend.

04/12/2021

We love of typography. Like expensive mountain-wear and fried chorizo, it’s one of those things that makes life more enjoyable.
Which is why we’re big fans of the Berlin Typography Project. And when you read this piece, you will be, too.
https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/berlin-typography-project-signs-of-interest

Jesse Simon’s fascinating collection of typography from the German capital reveals the rich visual history of the city, as Umbrella Creative Director Matt Reynolds describes.

01/12/2021

This looks great. Obviously. https://untappedcities.com/2019/06/10/11-of-the-last-remaining-wooden-houses-in-manhattan/?fbclid=IwAR3MncV47_aOOjwrmTBfXgWSEJnLRktiyJxMU5b92zpG_bznD3NeRFl-F0s

Wooden houses are rare in Manhattan due to a ban in construction in 1866 but you can still find a few rare and charming wooden houses that have survived!

30/11/2021

Few things have influenced Umbrella more than Robert Elms' show on BBC London (and we're still furious his days have been cut). Here's a brill interview we did with him a while back. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/in-quotes-robert-elms

Umbrella caught up with style-obsessive Roberts Elms about skinhead, casual – and why youth culture has never recovered from rave.

23/11/2021

Did you grow up in a suburb? Then you'll love Michael Cox's Hopper-like paintings of Britain's often-unloved outskirts. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/qa-michael-cox-painter-of-suburbia

Michael Cox’s pictures capture the everyday beauty of Britain’s outskirts.

20/10/2021

This is boring/interesting. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cincinnati-built-a-subway-system-100-years-ago-but-never-used-it/?utm_medium=atlas-page&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR19fdGMuVXhhJ-o57LsBhfMZEBtgO37XGdlhsPvlqUEyXuiqO-bYcGC-wk

Cincinnati is home to the largest unused subway system in the world.

15/10/2021

No one likes metros more us. And few come close to the typography/architecture/engineering feast that is Berlin's U-Bahn. And now a sensational new map celebrates its most outstanding stations. More here:

https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/just-the-ticket-berlin-u-bahn-architecture-and-design-map

Fifty of the U-Bahn’s best stations are documented in a stylish and informative new architecture guide-map.

14/10/2021

Good news! We've got some NEW (old) brutalism on the website. Discover the majesty of Brighton’s Spiritualist church now. It's a concrete delight!

https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/the-concrete-correspondent-spiritualist-church-brighton

Architectural photographer Jo Underhill is Umbrella's very own concrete correspondent. In this occasional column she spotlights locations captured as part of her Beautiful Brutalism series.

10/08/2021

Great interview with the man behind the best radio show in Britain. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/in-quotes-robert-elms

Umbrella caught up with style-obsessive Roberts Elms about skinhead, casual – and why youth culture has never recovered from rave.

28/07/2021

Incredible/depressing shots of London in the 1970s. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/19/london-burning-by-anthony-quinn-review-portrait-of-a-divided-country?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR1VDENQeoOAj2nDWdzUVP42oJ-gJ4pM_12ZzXJZgZ0_YwaSCKJkYm9tXks

Four strangers are united by the tensions of late 70s Britain in the latest of Quinn’s gratifying London novels

09/07/2021

Love trains? Love buildings which house trains? Us too. Which is why we wrote an article about the UK's best designed train stations. Warning: you might need your anorak. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/the-uks-best-designed-railway-stations

Love on the tracks: Umbrella writers share their experiences of the best bits of the network.

07/07/2021

Whatever you think of the Apple Watch, there's no doubting its increasing importance. But what's fascinating is the debt its design owes to the great watches of the past. As this super article shows. https://www.arun.is/blog/apple-watch-faces/

Did you know that several Apple Watch faces are digital reinterpretations of iconic real-life watches? Their design reflects a respect for history and a spirit of innovation.

21/06/2021

London’s North Circular Road (the A406) isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you picture the capital’s most iconic arteries. But for photographer Morgan Tomkinson-Burden, the suburbs it bisects are places of authenticity, largely untouched by developers – and all the better for it. To Morgan, this is the real London. You can see her fantastic photos on the Umbrella website now.

https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/banal-and-beautiful-photographing-londons-a406-north-circular-road

Photographer Morgan Tomkinson-Burden’s haunting images of London’s congested inner ring road reveal the remarkable in the unremarkable.

19/06/2021

If you’ve any interest in London, retail history or authentic marine wear (Hello, Umbrella readers!), then this story about Arthur Beale, “ships chandler” and purveyor of Breton sweaters. Soon, the shop will close its doors for the last time – and London will have lost another little bit of its soul. Read the interview with its MD here.

https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/qa-alasdair-flint-of-yacht-chandler-arthur-beale

A specialist sailing shop in London’s West End is a magnet for mariners and fashion fans alike, Umbrella’s Elliott Lewis-George meets Managing Director Alasdair Flint to talk ships, striped tops and Shackleton.

18/06/2021

World War II changed Europe in so many ways. Even in the remotest parts of the French Alps, its presence is felt – in the ‘little Maginot line’: a series of concrete bunkers designed to repel Italian invasion. And while the attack never materialised, the line did leave behind a series of concrete forts that add a ghostly presence to the landscape. Story on the website now.

https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/bunker-research-war-time-modernism-in-the-mountains

Max Leonard and Camille McMillan’s award-winning book of the crumbling concrete defences of the French Alps is a testament to the futility of war.

27/05/2021

This is great. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/may/27/martin-freemans-teenage-obsessions-that-rude-boy-skinhead-look-is-hard-to-beat

The Hobbit actor, who is back on TV in the sitcom Breeders, recalls sharp dressing on a budget, discovering Public Enemy and how Michael Caine got him into film

25/05/2021

Do YOU love roads? What about unlovely, polluted circular roads in London? Well we've got just the article for you. A photo-story of the London North Circular. Read it now! https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/banal-and-beautiful-photographing-londons-a406-north-circular-road

Photographer Morgan Tomkinson-Burden’s haunting images of London’s congested inner ring road reveal the remarkable in the unremarkable.

18/05/2021

The original inspiration for Umbrella magazine. And still the best travel documentary we've ever seen. Armani! Models! Trendy traffic wardens with guns! The Rough Guide To Milan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuXrqJzF3Rw

Sankha Guha (www.sankhaguha.com) and Magenta Devine present. Programme as broadcast. First transmitted on BBC2 in 1988 - in Series 1.This is the real thing. ...

17/05/2021

With the news Arthur Beale is closing (boo), why not read our profile of this most specialist of sailing shops? Warning: contains references to stripy Breton tops. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/qa-alasdair-flint-of-yacht-chandler-arthur-beale

A specialist sailing shop in London’s West End is a magnet for mariners and fashion fans alike, Umbrella’s Elliott Lewis-George meets Managing Director Alasdair Flint to talk ships, striped tops and Shackleton.

24/04/2021

One for lovers of Jamaican music: how reggae became ragga. Read it here: https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/no-country-for-old-men-when-reggae-went-ragga

In this excerpt from his book, I & I, The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh and Wailer , author Colin Grant recalls how a new and abrasive form of reggae started to usurp the older, more mellow sound.

07/04/2021

Photos of East London before flat-whites, organic bakeries and fancy restaurants.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/oct/27/rio-tape-slide-newsreel-group-hackney-cinema

In the 80s, a group of residents were given cameras to document the London borough. Now, their work has come to light showing the passionate spirit of a lost era

20/03/2021

If you're partial to a bit of brutalism – which, obvs you are – you'll love this piece on the elegant National Film Theatre on London's South Bank. Warning: contains references to concrete. Read here; https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/articles/the-concrete-correspondent-national-theatre-london

Architectural photographer Jo Underhill is Umbrella's very own concrete correspondent. In this occasional column she spotlights locations captured as part of her Beautiful Brutalism series.

18/03/2021

Do YOU love car parks? Beautiful-ugly ones made in the ’70s and ’80s? Us too. Which is why we've done an interview with – a photographer who's taken snaps of gorgeous monuments to the motor vehicle. Read it here: https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/qa-agnese-sanvito-photographer-of-multi-storey-car-parks

From Knightsbridge to Peckham, Miami to London’s West End, one Italian snapper finds beauty in concrete, steel and sensual spiral ramps.