The question posed in front of the umbrella still echoes in my ears.
The questioner was Professor Takashi Maekawa, Senior Researcher (Professor) at the Waseda University Institute for Science and Engineering.
The professor first visited Komiya Shoten in November of last year, when he requested that an umbrella be customized for a topic he was researching, and this relationship began.
I was a little worried about how well I could meet expectations with the analogue umbrella-making method that I normally use, but the idea of umbrellas as a research project was very appealing.
I decided to participate despite my limitations, in the hope that I might be able to look at the work that I usually do based on intuition and instinct from a new perspective.
The question at the beginning was asked by my teacher while we were discussing the shape of an umbrella.
Of course, I didn't know what Gaussian curvature was, and even after I was explained about it and looked it up afterwards, I only came to the simple realization that it was something important that somehow related to "shape" even though I didn't really understand it... But there's no point in lamenting my own lack of understanding now.
In fact, there is a certain pride in the umbrellas being described in technical terms, and it is true that I, as a maker, also felt a parental pride in this.
Professor Maekawa's research theme is in the field of shape processing engineering.
We are conducting research into digitizing the shape of design objects on computers using mathematical formulas and algorithms, and using that information to support manufacturing.
This time, umbrellas were chosen as the subject.
The triangular mold was needed to process the umbrella, but the one presented had a strange shape.
Normally the edge of the base of the triangle is straight, but in the unfolded diagram it has a curved, ruffle-like shape.
The reason for this is that the umbrella is represented as a bilinear surface that includes parabolas and straight lines.
When tailoring an umbrella, it is important to consider the elasticity of the fabric itself and the flexibility of the ribs.
Looking back on this undertaking, it can be said that the greatest challenge was figuring out how to incorporate the properties of these materials and the world of mathematics under a single umbrella.
This day was the final meeting, and Assistant Professor Terahara Takuya and Mr. Komiya Shoten came to visit us.
He said that the results of this project will be useful as material for papers.
It will still be some time before we know whether our paper will be accepted (apparently this is a much higher hurdle than we had imagined), but the world that this project has shown us over the past six months has been a huge inspiration.
I realized that the tasks I normally take for granted can have greater potential when viewed from a different perspective.
On the other hand, this is also possible thanks to the honest, handmade umbrella production that has been carried out since the Meiji era.
It can be said that cutting-edge research has given us an opportunity to reexamine the traditions, history, and manufacturing methods that we have inherited.
Thank you to Professor Maekawa and everyone in the Takizawa Laboratory for this valuable experience.
Manufacturing Department Tanaka
