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Go to the shopMora-Igra Umbrellas
Brisbane, Queensland
“My umbrellas are not for rain, they are about beauty.”
Alicia Mora-Hyde is the last remaining umbrella maker in Australia, if not the world.
For most of her adult life, Alicia has hand-made artisan umbrellas, from start to finish. Now in her mid-eighties, she continues to create colourful, unique umbrellas for their beauty, rather than protection from the rain.
Alicia migrated to Australia in her late twenties and secured a role as a nanny with the Igra family — owners of Igra Co, a company producing high-end umbrellas in Australia since 1948.
She remained with the family for 30 years, learning the craft of traditional umbrella making from master craftspeople at their Sydney factory, eventually becoming floor manager. Over time, Alicia developed the rare ability to make an umbrella entirely by hand, using European fabrics and handles sourced locally or from overseas.
Each umbrella is brought to life through a meticulous six-step process of hand making. Vintage machinery which has become increasingly rare is also required.
As the umbrella industry declined through the 1980s due to shifting markets and cheaper imports, circumstances for the Ingra family also changed. Recognising an opportunity to preserve the tradition and career she loved, Alicia purchased the business, updated the name to Mora-Igra, and eventually relocated the factory to Brendale, Brisbane, where it remains today.
Now, with fashion and economics continuing to evolve, Alicia has found herself the sole artisan in Australia with the machines — and the know-how — to make umbrellas the traditional way. In the UK, Heritage Crafts has listed traditional umbrella and parasol making as an endangered craft, with just a handful of practitioners remaining.
Though the physical demands of the work have increased with age, Alicia remains deeply committed to her craft, determined to keep making her beloved umbrellas for as long as she is able.
“So many cloths… so many materials… so many colours.”
Alicia Mora-Hyde
QB x artisan Collaboration at Thomas Dixon Centre
Exhibition Roomsheet
Note: All available-for-purchase artworks featured in Mora-Igra Umbrellas exhibition at the Thomas Dixon Centres can be collected from artisan in July, 2025.
