Photo used under the Creative Commons License. Credit: Flickr user Albert Straub.
It only rains in winter in Los Angeles, but when it does it is quite monsoon-like. It can be heavy and steady the entire day. How does one go about their errands on a rainy day? Of course, one would assume that human civilization has this problem licked by now. Umbrellas, of course.
Most umbrellas will set you back about $7 on the street and their crappiness is obvious even when you open them for the first time. They are made of lousy materials and barely last a single rain event–much less a rainy season. A single gust of wind is enough to end the life of most umbrellas one can buy on the street.
I would assume that it was from similar frustrations that three Dutch design-students decided to get together and design the senz umbrella.
The senz seems to be the only umbrella that does not suck.
The senz umbrella can withstand winds of up to 70 mph without coming apart. And it has won almost all major design awards in the world, such as the red dot design award, iF design award (Gold), IDEA award (Gold), Good Design Award, Observeur Design Award (Star), Dutch Design Award, etc.
You can order the senz umbrella here. Sure, they are $60, but you won’t have to buy another for a while.
Must more information and some fun videos at the senz site here.
