The Brief
Rains asked me to design a sculpture for their spring retail campaign.
Rains is an outdoor brand focused on waterproof gear and they’re known for refusing to sell umbrellas.
That commitment felt like the perfect starting point to create a moment of humor and beauty.
Concepting
My idea was to create a sculptural umbrella that is inverted, twisted and frozen in motion. By capturing an umbrella blowing in the wind, I created a symbol of frustration tying to their campaign story that "there are better options".
Production Oversight
The sculpture was modeled digitally and then carved from dense foam using a CNC machine. I monitored the production closely as I had a team of fabricators working on producing all of the individual parts.
Final Product & Reflection
Tilting the pedestal solved two problems:
It took up more visual space in he vitrine
Referencing Brancusi's idea that the pedestal is an integral part of the sculpture and not "just a base", it reinforced the concept of the sculpture being blown in the wind
