An umbrella stand gives the end user a defined place to stash a collection of umbrellas (rather than having them just shoved into a closet somewhere) as well as a place to put an umbrella when coming in from the rain. As I've noted before, there are many ways designers have approached creating such a simple item.

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The Brik from Pedrali is made from rotomolded polyethylene, which makes it suitable for both outdoor and indoor use. Unlike many other umbrella stands, it has separate, somewhat tall compartments for each umbrella. With this design, each umbrella must be folded up before being stored—there's no option to keep it open to facilitate drying. On the other hand, since the umbrellas will never touch, a damp one will not get others wet. The Brik will only work for full-size umbrellas; there's no accommodation for compact collapsible umbrellas.

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The Rain Bowl, designed by Sebastian Bergne and manufactured by Driade, is another product that doesn't accommodate compact umbrellas. But it's an interesting design; the umbrella tips go into the individual holes and the rainwater drains into the center bowl. I can see my cats wanting to drink from that center bowl, if enough water drains into it; hopefully they wouldn't disturb the umbrellas. 

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Of course, there's no way to drain that center bowl except to take the whole thing and dump it out—but the umbrella tips aren't sitting in water, which will be nice when the end user goes to pull one out. The rain bowl is made of cast aluminum.

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The Vide umbrella stand from Incipit has a interesting way of handling compact umbrellas; it comes with a wooden accessory which fits into one of the holes and provides a place for the umbrellas to hang.

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The Vide was designed by Paolo Monaco and Laura Pessoni. It has a glazed ceramic top and a concrete base. That concrete base should give it more heft and make it more tip-resistant.

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The Splash Square umbrella stand from +d was designed by Yasuhiro Asano. It's another umbrella stand with individual compartments. But this design holds either nine standard umbrellas or five standard umbrellas and one compact folding umbrella.

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This design fits a large number of umbrellas into a small space. It would seem likely to have stability issues, but maybe having a compact umbrella down low helps with that. It's made from synthetic rubber. 

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The Waiting umbrella stand from Atipico, designed by Federico Angi, is a simple design made from powder coated steel with a concrete base. It doesn't handle folding umbrellas, but it would be good for those looking for a super-easy storage solution for standard umbrellas—no fussing with getting the tip in the right spot. 

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The Hub umbrella stand from Umbra, designed by Jordan Murphy, has two hooks on the metal rim for hanging collapsible umbrellas. The base is made from water-resistant resin. 

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One possible design (or manufacturing) problem: One purchaser noted that "there was some splitting in the wood, as screws were tightened when putting it together." 

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The Alfred umbrella stand from DesignByThem (designed by Seaton Mckeon, Nicholas Karlovasitis and Sarah Gibson) has an interior shelf, making it very easy to store both standard and collapsible umbrellas.

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It's made of powder coated aluminum, and the company says it's suitable for outdoor use (as well as interior).

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The Via from Mox, designed by Charles O. Job, also accommodates all umbrella sizes, with a front pocket for shorter umbrellas.

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It's also one of the umbrella stands that can readily accommodate an umbrella that's left unfolded to dry off. 

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Because floor space is often at a premium, I'm always interested in wall-mounted products. The Sou umbrella stand from Systemtronic, designed by Tomoya Tabucchi, comes in both a standing and a wall-mounted version.

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There are three painted steel panels and two removable containers to hold the umbrellas and pick up any water. The container in front is located halfway up the panel, so it holds small umbrellas; the one back is lower for standard size umbrellas.

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And for those end users with a metal surface handy, someone thought to design these simple magnetic umbrella holders. One purchaser noted that the magnets slipped a bit; magnet strength is certainly a design consideration for a product like this.