MULTI FRAME
Design: Paul Rowan

1993: The first multi picture frame inspired by the family tree.

The style of framing had been virtually unchanged for a century. Umbra has made a business out of identifying home products that need re-invention. Photo framing was a perfect category of products to contemporize. The "family tree" had always been created using mat board in very ordinary framing.

 

Paul translated the idea of the family tree to a partitioned wood frame with multi openings of various sizes. Multi openings would allow one to re-create an event with groupings of portraits or landscapes. This framing idea captures family, friends and experiences in a collage of photos. The product had to be highly crafted in wood which was different from the ordinary rectilinear frames that were manufactured at the time. Umbra virtually changed the face of modern frame making with this invention that is still widely sold today.