A new chapter from Shigu
SHENGHE makes oil-paper umbrellas in Shigu, Xiangtan County, Hunan. Our story grows within the town’s umbrella-making community, bringing its bamboo work, paper canopies and decorative threading into designs for life today.
The people behind the designs are part of that story. After returning to his hometown, SHENGHE principal and designer Liangzi joined his family’s umbrella design and business. In an August 2026 interview, he described exploring illustrations and contemporary visual styles alongside familiar Chinese artistic themes.
Rooted in Shigu's umbrella tradition
In Shigu, umbrella making reaches back around six centuries. SHENGHE brings a contemporary voice to this continuing tradition, where bamboo preparation, frame assembly and paper work remain connected to local working life. The skills of the town’s makers give each new design its starting point.
The regional craft is included in Xiangtan’s and Hunan Province’s intangible cultural heritage lists. Its continuing life also depends on people learning and encountering it: in 2025, a Beijing Forestry University practice team visited SHENGHE and other Shigu umbrella businesses to experience stages of the making process.
Two sides of the same umbrella
From above, the canopy carries colour and artwork. From below, bamboo ribs and coloured thread form a second composition. Our catalogue offers partial and full lacing, each with its own density and rhythm. The surface and the structure are two views of the same SHENGHE umbrella.
Bamboo · The structure beneath
Paper and thread · A closer view
Keeping the craft in use
Preserving the craft also means refining the umbrella people use. Our current collection combines a curved, four-piece paper canopy with thicker, hand-smoothed ribs, a shaped handle and three hand-applied coats of tung-oil-free gloss finish. The folding frame and decorative threadwork carry the familiar character of the oil-paper umbrella into everyday use.
A familiar form, new points of view
At the 2025 Hunan Culture and Tourism Industry Expo, SHENGHE presented designs that brought classical motifs and contemporary tastes together. The work continues through new artwork and ways of using the umbrella, while the relationship between paper, bamboo and the hands of its makers stays at its centre.