Slawa Duldig facts for kids

Slawa Duldig (born Horowitz, 28 November 1901 – 16 August 1975) was a talented inventor, artist, interior designer, and teacher. In 1928, she came up with a brilliant idea for a new, compact folding umbrella. She got a patent for her design in 1929. Slawa was married to the famous Austrian-Australian sculptor Karl Duldig. Their daughter, Eva de Jong-Duldig, became a champion Australian tennis player. Eva also started the Duldig Studio, which is an artists’ house museum in Melbourne, Australia, today.

Early Life

Slawa Horowitz Duldig was born in Horocko, Poland. Her father, Nathan Horowitz, was the director of a flour mill nearby. Her grandparents owned a farm.

In 1911, Slawa’s family moved from Poland to Vienna, Austria. They were worried about the increasing political problems in Poland. Slawa went to a convent school and showed early talent for playing the piano. All three Horowitz children became very creative. Slawa became an artist and designer. Her sister, Aurelie (called ‘Rella’), became an actress. Her brother, Marek, was a lawyer who also wrote poetry and music.

Education and Art

After school, Slawa studied fine arts at the Viennese School for Women and Girls.

From 1922 to 1925, Slawa learned from the sculptor Anton Hanak in Vienna. He was part of an art movement called the Vienna Secession, and a friend of its founder, Gustav Klimt. In 1929, Slawa graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. She studied with Professor Hans Bitterlich, another sculptor. In 1926, a newspaper praised her clay sculpture ‘Mother and Child’. It was shown in an exhibition of her professor's students at the Vienna Künstlerhaus.

Inventing the Folding Umbrella

In 1928, Slawa visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna on a rainy day. She had to carry a big, clumsy umbrella. This gave her an idea for a small, folding umbrella that could fit in a handbag. She later remembered thinking, "Why must I carry this clumsy thing? Can't they invent a small folding umbrella?"

Slawa wanted to solve the problem of bulky umbrellas. She was very clever and got help from her parents, sister Rella, and friend Karl Duldig. She drew designs and got umbrella parts from a factory. She pretended she was designing a lampshade! She hired a watchmaker to help build it. She bought black silk fabric, made a pattern, and attached it to the umbrella frame. Karl Duldig suggested making the handle wider so the parts could fit inside. This led to the first modern folding umbrella.

Her father loaned her money to hire a patent lawyer. Slawa then applied for a patent for her umbrella design. Applications were sent to many countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. Her patent, Specification 318,577, was officially given on 19 September 1929.

The umbrella Slawa patented had a special handle that could slide in and out, making it much smaller. The metal ribs under the silk were also designed to fold up in a new way.

The umbrella was sold under the brand name ‘Flirt.’ It was made by companies in Austria and Germany. Ten thousand ‘Flirt’ umbrellas were sold in the first year! Slawa received money from sales every year until 1938. The ‘Flirt’ umbrella was shown at the 1931 Vienna Spring Fair. A reporter excitedly wrote that "the sculptress Slawa Horowitz has invented a magic umbrella that can be folded so small it can fit in a handbag."

Family Life

Slawa married Karl Duldig in 1931. They were both artists and had met in Anton Hanak's sculpture class. Their daughter, Eva, was born on 11 February 1938.

Slawa and Karl Duldig lived in an apartment in Vienna. They decorated it in the style of the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops), which was a famous design group. They ordered furniture from a company called Sigmund Jaray. Slawa worked with the lead designer there to create unique furniture pieces. For example, she designed living room chairs with red leather straps in a crisscross pattern. She also designed a double bed with special wooden blocks that looked like lace.

Moving During Wartime

In 1938, Austria became part of Nazi Germany. This led to many terrible events in Vienna, especially for Jewish people. Their homes and businesses were attacked, and many people were arrested. Because they were Jewish and worried about their safety, Slawa, Karl, and Eva Duldig left Vienna for Switzerland. Karl went first. Slawa and Eva stayed in Vienna for a short time. Slawa packed up their apartment belongings and trusted her sister Rella to look after them. A Nazi official told Slawa she had to leave their apartment. The official offered to buy their furniture, but Slawa cleverly said she had already sold everything. Slawa and her friend Melitta Despitz pretended Melitta was the buyer. This trick worked, and Slawa managed to save her family's belongings. Rella then kept them safe in Paris.

Slawa and Eva traveled to Switzerland with temporary visas. Karl had arranged these with the help of a Swiss official. In Switzerland, Slawa sold the rights to her ‘Flirt’ umbrella to a company for a small amount of money.

In May 1939, the Duldig family arrived in Singapore as refugees. Karl and Slawa opened an art school. Slawa also worked restoring art. When Britain declared war on Germany, their status as foreign nationals became a problem. In July 1940, they were forced to leave Singapore. They traveled on a ship called the HMT Queen Mary with other people from Germany and Italy. They arrived in Sydney, Australia, on 25 September 1940. They were then held in Internment Camp 3 in Tatura, northern Victoria.

Karl was released from the camp in April 1942 to join an army work company. Slawa and Eva stayed at the camp until May 1942. In December 1943, they were officially reclassified as "refugee aliens" instead of "enemy aliens." After this, Slawa and Karl Duldig settled in Melbourne and lived there for the rest of their lives.

Sadly, many of Slawa's family members remained in Europe during the war. In 1944, Slawa tried to find news of her sister Rella through the Red Cross. She later learned that Rella and her husband were safe in Paris. Rella and Marcel had kept Slawa and Karl's belongings from their Vienna apartment safe during the war. Some of these items, including the special furniture, were shipped to Australia in 1946. They are now part of the collection at the Duldig Studio.

Slawa and Rella were reunited in Paris in 1968. Sadly, her brother Marek, father Nathan, and other relatives were lost during the war and never found.

Teaching Art

In 1945, Slawa became a registered teacher of Art and German. She started working at Korowa Church of England Girls Grammar School. In 1947, she became the Senior Art and Craft teacher at St Catherine's Girls School, where she taught for sixteen years. At St Catherine's, Slawa was known for her deep knowledge of European art, craft, and furniture design. She used new ways to teach, letting students express themselves freely and try new things. Slawa was one of the first teachers in Victoria to offer Art as a subject for final exams.

In June 1954, Slawa was one of thirteen women who attended a UNESCO meeting. It was about "The Role of the Visual Arts in Education" at Melbourne University Women's College. Slawa was part of a group that suggested Art should be as important as all other subjects in schools.

Around 1945, Karl and Slawa Duldig also started a pottery business in Melbourne. Karl made the pottery, and both he and Slawa decorated it. Their pottery was sold in shops around Melbourne, including The Primrose Pottery Shop, which also sold works by famous Australian artists like Arthur Boyd.

Duldig Studio

Slawa passed away on 16 August 1975. Following her wishes, her family home and studio in East Malvern were turned into the Duldig Studio museum and sculpture garden by her daughter, Eva de-Jong Duldig. The Studio shows Slawa's work in Modernist Art and Design. It highlights her artistic creations, her experiences as an immigrant, and her invention of the ‘Flirt’ umbrella.

Recognition

In 1977, the McClelland Gallery in Langwarrin, Australia, held an exhibition called Slawa Duldig – Artist Teacher Inventor. The exhibition included her drawings for the ‘Flirt’ umbrella patent, and her drawings, paintings, and sculptures from 1915 to 1974.

In 1978, St Catherine's School started the Slawa Duldig Art Prize for senior students.

Umbrellas based on the ‘Flirt’ design continued to be made throughout the 20th century. Original ‘Flirt’ umbrella prototypes, created by Slawa, are kept in the collections of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney and the Duldig Studio.