'Nobody else wanted it': How Alicia is keeping artisan umbrella-making alive

Highlights:Alicia Mora-Hyde migrated to Australia from Chile at the age of 29 for a better future.She worked in Sydney as a nanny for a local businessman, the owner of umbrella maker, Igra Co.Michael Igra sold the business to Ms Mora-Hyde more than 30 years ago and now she does the work of six people to preserve the old trade of making handmade umbrellas.

Were it not for a Chilean migrant with a love for an art that has largely disappeared, Australia would have lost its last artisan umbrella factory more than 30 years ago.

Mora-Igra Umbrellas is the only company in Australia that continues to produce handmade umbrellas, and the owner of this one-person business is Alicia Mora-Hyde who makes, distributes and promotes custom-made umbrellas from her factory in Brisbane.

Alicia Mora-Hyde (R) in the umbrella factory. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

Ms Mora-Hyde said she could never imagine retiring.

“No, not in a million years. The future is always there … one has to look for it. If you encounter negative things, you have to try to look for the positive things, because there are always positives in life,” she said.

Chilean Australian Alicia Mora-Hyde with one of her custom-made umbrellas. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

Buying Igra Co.

Her involvement with the umbrella company began in Sydney in the 1970s, when she worked as a nanny for the Igra family, owners of Igra Co. and manufacturers of high-end Australian umbrellas since 1948.

In addition to her caring for the couple’s two children, she said Mr Igra offered her a position working in the umbrella factory alongside other migrants who, like her, spoke very little English.

Made from fabrics imported from France, Germany and Italy, high-quality British frames and antique European handles, some shaped like birds and decorated with semi-precious stones, the umbrellas of Igra Co. were considered luxury items and symbols of prestige.

But, according to Ms Mora-Hyde, by the 1980s, the demand for crafted umbrellas declined and as the supply of cheaper, mass-produced umbrellas from overseas increased, local companies like Igra Co. became less competitive and were forced to close or evolve.

Some of the umbrella handles used to make Mora-Igra umbrellas. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

When Mr Igra decided to retire in the 1990s because he was “tired and the umbrellas no longer sold as easily as before”, neither of his children or other relatives were interested in taking on the company, Ms Mora-Hyde said.

Ms Mora-Hyde with one of her custom-made sun umbrellas. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

But before closing the business for good, he offered it to her.

“And I bought it (the business) … I paid very little … because nobody wanted it,” she said.

As she was single, she said she felt that the business could provide her with a degree of financial security. It would also allow her to continue using the technical knowledge she had learned from a family with whom she had cultivated a close relationship.

She re-named the company ‘Mora-Igra’ to incorporate her surname.

“I kept the name ‘Igra’ … because Igra was a master of umbrellas, he had a gift … this man was magical, he did incredible things … he was an artist as a painter and an artist as an umbrella maker,” she said.

He was a man of many talents. He brought European design ideas (to Australia) and became a tycoon.

Alicia Mora-Hyde

The resistance against globalisation

Today, Ms Mora-Hyde is the company’s only staff member working from her Brisbane factory where she uses the same machines utilised in the 1950s.

Some of the Mora-Igra umbrellas. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

“First of all, I work with vintage European designs and frames that are better and stronger (than today’s frames). Frames that are British, called Fox … (those frames) are the best vintage frames. I still have several left,” she said.

Alicia Mora-Hyde is the only staff member of the umbrella company. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

Humble beginnings in rural Chile

Born and raised in a farming family with 10 siblings, Ms Mora-Hyde left home at age 17 to work as a live-in housekeeper for a family in Temuco, Chile.

When that arrangement ended, she stayed with an acquaintance in the same city, sleeping on the floor, studying during the day and working in the afternoon for several years.

Some of the umbrellas made by Alicia Mora-Hyde. Credit: Alicia Mora-Hyde

Her experiences taught her that life was about effort and work, so that when she arrived in Australia in 1971 at age 29, she knew not to take anything for granted, she said.

In 2017, she lost her husband, George ‘John’ Hyde, whom she met in her 60s.

She said she still mourns the passing of the only man she loved, but found comfort in knowing that the 15 years they spent together were the most enriching and happiest of her life.