#HTE

Can This Design Take Credit for Fixing the Umbrella?

Can this design take credit for fixing the umbrella? You might not be thinking of the gray days to come yet, but take some of your luxurious sweaty summertime to consider the KazBrella. 

The KazBrella was designed by Jenan Kazim, an Aeronautical Engineer who has spent a decade on the project. It updates the biggest design woes of the traditional umbrella: its spiny periphery, large “footprint” when opening, overly delicate structure, and wet dog mess once indoors.

The KazBrella quashes each of these in turn with an elegant inverted design. This style takes the ubiquitous push-to-open mechanism, but starting with the fabric’s crown close to the handle and moving up along the shaft, flexing through a full 180 degrees to open into the familiar umbrella profile. You really have to watch it move to appreciate it. 

The inversion allows the wet material to fold tidily inside when closed. This detail makes your umbrella a less gross accessory in tight spaces like subways or cabs, and kinder to floors when parked.

It closes and opens more space-consciously, making it less hazardous to the eyes of bystanders. Is it less unlucky to open indoors? I couldn’t say. But the KazBrella canopy is stronger against wind damage, since extreme pressure inside the bell of the umbrella would force it into a normal closing position, not against it. 

I particularly appreciate the nod to integrating traditional umbrella components in the design. Functional innovation is wonderful, but recognizing how to benefit from generations of existing engineering is often beneficial to commercial success.

I should note, it’s not the first and only of it’s inside-out kind, but it’s certainly the sturdiest and most well-developed I’ve seen yet. I can’t say I’d use it personally (“true” Pacific Northwest natives turn up our noses at umbrellas because we believe GoreTex is a hereditary trait) but I’d consider it more than normal. If you feel similarly, the KazBrella’s second production run will be available this fall, with an estimated price tag of 45 Euro

Would you use one? Any oversights?

http://www.core77.com/posts/55723/Can-This-Design-Take-Credit-for-Fixing-the-Umbrella