Driving Brand Loyalty through Custom Illustrated Umbrellas for Keepers Cottages

In the competitive landscape of luxury self-catering accommodation, brand differentiation often lies in the “unseen” details. Keepers Cottages, the premier provider of holiday rentals in Kent, sought to provide their guests with more than just a rainy-day essential. They required a high-end, functional brand touchpoint that resonated with the coastal charm of their locations.

The Umbrella Workshop (a division of the Wurlin Group) stepped in to manufacture custom illustrated umbrellas that transformed a simple weather accessory into a piece of bespoke artist-edition merchandise. By utilising our City Walker frame and executing a complex, 8-panel Pantone-matched print, we successfully bridged the gap between a creative vision and a high-durability reality. Here we explore the journey from dainty white illustrations to a sophisticated, aqua-marine brand asset that now serves as a hallmark of the Keepers Cottages guest experience.

The Client: Keepers Cottages, Kent

Keepers Cottages is the leading independent holiday cottage agency in Eastern Kent. With a portfolio that spans from the historic streets of Deal to the sprawling coastlines of Whitstable, their brand is synonymous with local expertise, luxury interiors, and a quintessential British seaside aesthetic.

For a business where the “product” is a memorable stay, every physical item within the cottage—from the linens to the hallway storage—contributes to the guest’s perception of value. In the unpredictable British climate, umbrellas are a frequent necessity for guests exploring the Kentish coast. Keepers Cottages identified an opportunity to replace generic, off-the-shelf umbrellas with something that felt like a curated gift.

The Challenge: Merging Utility with Luxury Branding

Procurement teams and company owners often face the same dilemma: how to create branded merchandise that doesn’t look like “merchandise.”

Keepers Cottages had several specific requirements:

Colour Precision: The “aqua marine” brand colour needed to be exact. Standard stock fabrics can often match a specific brand palette, but often we will Pantone-match to ensure exact colour-matching.
Design Complexity: The artwork wasn’t a simple logo. It consisted of dainty, detailed white illustrations—a variety of shapes including bees, sausage dogs, ice cream cones, and lighthouses.
Durability: Given the coastal winds of Kent, the frame had to be sturdy. A cheap promotional umbrella would break, reflecting poorly on the luxury status of the cottages.
Visual Storytelling: The design needed to be a “conversation starter”—something guests would want to be seen with and perhaps even purchase to take home.

The Creative Vision: Art-Canopy Umbrellas

The concept for these art-canopy umbrellas was rooted in “The Joy of Discovery.” The client wanted a design that felt like a treasure map of the Kentish experience.

The Iconography

The illustrations were carefully drawn to represent the eclectic mix of the Kent countryside and coast:

The Sea & Shore: Shells, crabs, and fish to represent the fresh hauls of the Deal coastline.
Coastal Life: Lighthouses to guide the way and ice cream cones for the summer holidays.
Country Charm: Bees and leaves for the inland orchards of the Garden of England.
The “Keepers” Vibe: A book for cozy nights by the fire and a sausage dog—the universal symbol of a dog-friendly holiday cottage.

This level of detail requires an umbrella manufacturer capable of high-fidelity printing. Traditional screen printing often struggles with very fine lines or small, intricate shapes across multiple panels. This is where graphic-print designer umbrellas move from the realm of “promotional products” into “retail-grade accessories” and we employ the most appropriate print method for the artwork provided.

The Solution: Custom Illustrated Umbrellas with UK Quality

To meet the brief, the Umbrella Workshop utilised the City Walker Umbrella—a sophisticated long-handled model known for its elegant silhouette and robust windproof frame.

1. Full-Canopy Pantone Matching

Rather than choosing a “close-enough” blue, we dyed the fabric to a specific Pantone aqua marine. This ensured that whether the umbrella was seen in a guest’s Instagram photo or standing in a hallway rack, it was instantly recognisable as part of the Keepers Cottages brand family.

2. 8-Panel Illustration Layout

Many branded umbrellas are printed on one or two panels. To create a truly immersive custom illustrated umbrella, we printed on all 8 panels. This allowed the dainty white print to flow seamlessly around the canopy, creating a 360-degree story.

3. Precision Engineering

The “dainty white print” mentioned in the brief is notoriously difficult to execute on light-coloured fabrics. Using digital printing techniques, we ensured the white remained crisp and opaque against the aqua marine background, preventing the base colour from “bleeding” through the ink.

Manufacturing Excellence: From Pantone Matching to Final Mile

The Umbrella Workshop serves as the bridge between creative and manufacturing. For the Keepers Cottages project, our role involved structured project coordination to ensure the design vision was never lost in translation.

Structured Project Coordination

The procurement of bespoke artist-edition umbrellas involves more moving parts than a standard order. Our process included:

Pre-production Sampling: Ensuring the aqua marine was perfect under different lighting conditions (natural sunlight vs. indoor cottage lighting).
Template Alignment: Ensuring the illustrations (the bee, the lighthouse, etc.) did not get “chopped off” at the seams where the 8 panels meet.
Quality Assurance: Testing the City Walker frame against tension and opening mechanisms to ensure a premium “click” every time.

Global Reach, Local Expertise

As specialists in bespoke umbrellas, we leverage a global supplier reach. While the concepts are developed with the UK’s “luxury quality” expectations in mind, we use the best international manufacturing facilities to handle the complexities of high-volume, high-detail textile printing. We then managed the international distribution, delivering the final product directly to the client in Kent, ready for the upcoming holiday season.

The Result: A Tangible Brand Extension

The final product was more than a tool to stay dry; it was a piece of Graphic-print designer merchandise that guests actively sought out.

Social Proof: Guests staying at Keepers Cottages frequently shared photos of the umbrellas, providing organic social media marketing for the agency.
Improved Guest Perception: The inclusion of a “high-quality, beautifully designed” item inside the cottages reinforced the agency’s commitment to excellence.
Brand Longevity: Unlike paper brochures or digital ads, these umbrellas last for years, acting as mobile billboards for Keepers Cottages throughout the towns of Kent.

What Can We Do For You?

At the Umbrella Workshop and Wurlin Group, we are specialists in bespoke umbrellas, packaging, and customised merchandise. Progressive and flexible, we work with creative agencies and brand owners to diligently explore concepts and develop custom branded solutions.

We understand that for marketers and procurement teams, the biggest risk is a product that looks “cheap.” That is why we focus on:

Innovative Manufacture: Using the latest in textile and printing technology.
Global Sourcing: Finding the right materials at the right price point without sacrificing quality.
Seamless Logistics: Handling everything from the drawing board to the final mile with international shipping and personalised fulfilment tailored to your brand.

The Keepers Cottages project is a testament to what happens when a brand refuses to settle for the ordinary. By investing in custom illustrated umbrellas, they turned a functional necessity into a powerful brand asset. Whether it is the specific Pantone match of the aqua marine panels or the intricate storytelling of the white-printed icons, every element of these bespoke artist-edition umbrellas was designed to delight.

The Wurlin Group- The Umbrella Workshop is your partner for turning ambitious concepts into tangible reality. We handle the complexities of production to ensure your design vision is never lost in translation—taking you from the initial sketch to a finished, high-quality product delivered to your door.

Contact Umbrella Workshop today to explore how we can manufacture your luxury umbrellas. Let us help you turn your brand icons—be they bees, books, or lighthouses—into a masterpiece.

Contact us at info@wurlin.com to start your project.

This bespoke umbrella, designed for Purbeck Ice Cream, features an expanding canopy with ventilation to handle stronger winds. The sturdy, expanding ribs provide a canopy width similar to our Golf umbrellas, while the design conveniently folds down to the length of a standard walker umbrella. This model is customised with Purbeck Ice Cream’s own logo in a two-colour print on one of the panels, using Pantone colour matching. Additionally, their artwork, depicting a skyline silhouette, is wrapped around all eight panels of the outer canopy.

All over print on an umbrella means each of the 8 panels of the umbrella are printed. They can be printed to the edge of the panel with an artwork that makes the top view of the umbrella appear to be one continuous piece of print, when actually each panel is printed individually prior to construction and then the Purbeck Ice Cream Umbrella is carefully sewn up by hand to ensure the print on each panel is aligned. The all over print on an umbrella ensures maximum impact for a stunning design, photo or logo.

Our range of umbrellas include three core models: golf umbrellas, walking umbrellas and folding umbrellas. Purbeck Ice Cream umbrella is a walking umbrella with a black silicon handle. Each model includes variants to suit your budget or lead time. It maybe you need an umbrella quickly and therefore we’ll offer you a UK manufactured umbrella which we can turn around within 2-3 weeks. Customisation options are limited to a logo print on a UK manufactured umbrella, but if you have a slightly longer lead time then we can print inside and outside of the umbrella. You can add a branded woven label to your customised umbrella or you can engrave a handle ring to a walking umbrella or a branded logo disk to a golf umbrella handle.

We are specialists in branded promotional merchandise. Printed umbrellas, custom-made bags and other branded merchandise that is sensibly sourced and never single-use plastic. If you would like to find out more about how we can help your business with sustainable branded merchandise, then find out more from us by visiting Wurlin or call us +44 (0)1225 667979. We work with global clients and ship internationally.

Wonderbly are a technology and publishing business who create personalised books for both children and adults, they wanted to create some umbrellas that had a fun element to them while also incorporating their brand logos and tying to their branding guidelines.

The client chose a City Walker Pro model of umbrella, perfect for busy city living. The outside of the digital printed umbrella consists of Pantone matched navy to match their guidelines and website, with Pantone matched one colour logo screen printed upon two panels and printed tie wrap.

Internal canopy print umbrella

This City Walker Pro was digitally printed on the internal canopy of the umbrella. This is a double canopy umbrella that the client chose a simple external canopy print with a logo on 4 panels, and then the internal canopy print to be more detailed and impactful once the umbrella had been opened. This umbrella shows the impact that a simple external canopy and a printed internal canopy can have.

This premium storm-proof model is durable as well as practical, boasting top quality fittings and large branding potential. Available with internal and external canopy print, logo print, seam matched design, engraved handle rings and more this model is not only elegant, but also a great umbrella for customisation to fit into your company branding.

Our range of umbrellas include three core models: golf umbrellas, walking umbrellas and folding umbrellas. Each model includes variants to suit your budget or lead time. It maybe you need an umbrella quickly and therefore we’ll offer you a UK manufactured umbrella which we can turn around within 2-3 weeks. Customisation options are limited to a logo print on a UK manufactured umbrella, but if you have a slightly longer lead time then we can print inside and outside of the umbrella. You can add a branded woven label to your customised umbrella or you can engrave a neck ring to a walking umbrella or a branded logo disk to a golf umbrella handle.

Find out how we make our umbrellas and what each of the parts of an umbrella are called with this useful article. Find out how branded umbrellas can enhance your brand. Printing all over the eight panels of the umbrella with an image that covers the entirety of the panels requires the panels to be printed first and then matched at the seams and carefully sewn together.

This City Walker Pro umbrella model features a stunning seam matched digital print on the umbrella canopy using artwork provided by the client. We created an eye-catching City Walker Pro umbrella with seam-matched digital print over the entire outer canopy. Each panel was printed and then sewn by hand to ensure that the intricate design was perfectly matched at every seam to really allow the full impact of the umbrella to show when it is opened. This single canopy umbrella really emphasises the power of a bold and bright umbrella for branding, and we were thrilled to be able to create our clients vision with such an intricate and busy design.

Find out how we make our umbrellas and what each of the parts of an umbrella are called with this useful article. Find out how branded umbrellas can enhance your brand. Customising your umbrella with digital printing and dye sublimation or woven labels are a great way for personalising your umbrella. We did this for Microsoft and their woven label is a subtle branding detail. The Locke Living umbrella we manufactured is another great example.

A stunning seam matched internal umbrella canopy print for tech-giants, Microsoft was created on a City Walker Pro. This colourful and eye-catching design really demonstrates the high level of detail and depth of colour we can achieve, along with the intricate matching of a design like this, at the seams of the umbrella. Our client chose to have the detailed graphic printed on the inside of the umbrella, and

Printing on the inside of an umbrella is a great opportunity to make your umbrella unique. We can print your artwork across the panels prior to construction of the umbrella in order for the print to matched carefully by hand at the seams of the umbrella, to create a continuous photo, pattern or design across all 8 internal panels of the umbrella. We are able to achieve a great internal print on an umbrella with a screen print or digital print to suit the complexity of your artwork. If you’re not sure how your internal print on an umbrella will look, why not send us your artwork and we can conceptualise it for you and email you with it to help make your decision.

Uppingham School colour matched City Walker Pro

This branded school umbrella was created for an independent co-educational boarding school in England which was founded in 1584 and consists of colour matched umbrella canopy print. Uppingham School is a place of architectural contrasts, tradition and modernity and is an intrinsic part of the historic town. This City Walker Pro umbrella (link to product page) was manufactured for Uppingham School as part of a re-branding exercise.

The client chose a double canopy City Walker Pro umbrella with contrasting, colour matched umbrella canopy prints for the inside and outside of the umbrella. The outer umbrella canopy is made up of the logo on 4 panels and a 5-colour print. The internal umbrella canopy is a bold contrasting colour that compliments the outer canopy and is a 3-colour digital print.

This umbrella was also customised with seam-matched panels, which were hand sewn together to ensure the design could flow correctly from one panel to the next. This is a time-intensive process and is completed by hand by our factory in the far east. A colour matched tie wrap was also included in the design of this bespoke umbrella, which was digitally printed to enable the design to flow when the umbrella is closed as well.

Find out how we make our umbrellas and what each of the parts of an umbrella are called with this useful article. Find out how branded umbrellas can enhance your brand. Other umbrellas we’ve created for independent schools include this single canopy printed umbrella and this wood walking umbrella for another independent school. Digital prints on the inside and outside of umbrellas is a popular choice for personalised umbrellas.

We are specialists in branded promotional merchandise. Printed umbrellas, custom-made bags and other branded merchandise that is sensibly sourced and never single-use plastic. If you would like to find out more about how we can help your business with sustainable branded merchandise, then find out more from us by visiting Wurlin or call us +44 (0)1225 667979.We work with global clients and ship internationally.

Gold print on umbrella for NYETIMBER

Gold print on customised City Walker Pro umbrella was created for a world renowned English sparkling wine company, Nyetimber and features a metallic logo printed on to the outer canopy. Nyetimber has been making exceptional English sparkling wine for more than 25 years. The company’s mission is to create a product which is enjoyed by wine lovers all over the world. Nyetimber has a reputation for excellence, luxury, and perfectionism, so we were the perfect supplier to support their brand values.

We created a stunning City Walker Pro with double canopy umbrella with a straight handle, and Pantone matched panels plus a 2-colour print on the external canopy along with metallic logo printed on the outer canopy. The umbrella consists of one version of the company’s logo on 4 outer canopy panels and another version on the other 4 panels. The gold metallic ink was matched to the client’s Pantone reference to complement the luxury of the brand and the subtle colour palette.

There are multiple options for custom branded umbrellas, and we can combine a multitude of techniques to create the branded umbrella that you are looking for. For this design, we used digital printing for the panels, along with the metallic ink. For the metallic ink, we don’t just use ink – we use real gold! Our gold and silver inks contain tiny quantities of the base material, giving the print an iridescence that is unrivalled.

Each umbrella model includes customisation options to suit your budget or lead time. It maybe you need an umbrella quickly and therefore we’ll offer you a UK manufactured umbrella which we can turn around within 2-3 weeks. Customisation options are limited to a logo print on a UK manufactured umbrella, but if you have a slightly longer lead time then we can create an umbrella more bespoke umbrella, as with the Nyetimber City Walker Pro Umbrella.

Our range of umbrellas include three core models: golf umbrellas, walking umbrellas and folding umbrellas. Each model includes variants to suit your budget or lead time.

It may be that you need an umbrella quickly, and therefore we’ll offer you a UK manufactured umbrella which we can turn around within 2-3 weeks. Customisation options are limited to a logo print on a UK manufactured umbrella. If you have a slightly longer lead time, then the customisation options are more extensive. You can add digital print to the inside and outside canopies that can then be seam-matched. You can add an engraved handle ring to a walking umbrella, a branded logo disk to a golf umbrella, metallic ink, a branded woven label or customised poppers on the tie wrap.

We work with global clients and ship internationally.

Digitally printed City Walker Umbrella

Photo printing on umbrellas can be conservative or unusual, like this rather funky design. It has actual photo images printed on the umbrella canopy, creating quite the statement. Photos prints on umbrellas use a high resolution photograph and we digitally print the photo onto the umbrella panels prior to construction. Each of the eight panels of the umbrella can have a different photograph or one photograph can be printed across all panels and matched up during construction to display a single image across the diameter of the umbrella.

photo printing on umbrella this shows film imagery on a city walker umbrella

You can choose a black and white photo to print on an umbrella or a colour photograph to print on your umbrella. You aren’t limited to printing only on the outside of the umbrella to create a top view of the photograph. We can photo print the inside of the umbrella too.

Travel companies, museums & galleries, places of interest and photographers like photo umbrellas because our quality of print is superb and accurately represents the original photograph.

: Double canopy walking umbrella

All over dotty pattern branded umbrella

An eye catching screen printed dots umbrella in soft greys with subtle branding detail. Derwent London is a British-based property investment and development business. They chose our City Walker Umbrella that are popular among business professionals including financial services and property developers. We used an all over print on the topside of the umbrella, but we also offer the option of internal prints on the underside of the canopy, which can add a bit of fun to a plain umbrella.

Made to order umbrellas are customised in multiple ways. From printing inside and outside of the umbrella panels and matching the seams during construction for continuous prints, to the branded tie wrap which can be embroidered or printed. The umbrella carry sleeve can be personalised with print or with a strap. Other customisation options include photo prints on umbrellas. Photo prints on umbrellas are eye-catching and great for galleries and creatives. Screen printing on umbrellas is great option for bold graphics. Logo prints are often best suited with a screen print.

Find out how we make our umbrellas and what each of the parts of an umbrella are called with this useful article. Find out how branded umbrellas can enhance your brand.

Custom illustrated umbrellas