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Umbrellas are utilitarian objects that most of us have -unless we don’t. A wise woman (or man, maybe) once said you need three umbrellas: one to forget at home, one to leave on the train, one to leave at the restaurant. If you are the kind of person who can keep up with an umbrella, you should treat yourself to a distinctive and memorable accessory.
1. Nubrella
The Nubrella is a hands-free umbrella design that covers your entire head and shoulders. Attached shoulder straps rest on your shoulders and hold it in place. I can’t decide whether it looks more like a B-movie space helmet or an insect eating your head. The upside is that it won’t blow away in the wind, won’t poke other people, and you can use both hands to carry stuff or use your phone. Not that you need two hands to use your phone, but you know what I mean.
2. Cloud Umbrella
Dutch designer Joonsoo Kim created the Cloud Umbrella, which is a mere stick until you need it. Then you’ll have to blow it up! Yes, it’s an inflatable umbrella.
3. Samurai Umbrella
The Samurai Umbrella comes with its own nylon scabbard and shoulder strap, so you can carry it just like a samurai would carry a sword. When the rain comes, grab it by it’s authentic-looking samurai sword hilt and open it with a dramatic gesture!
4. Big Umbrella
The Big Umbrella is an art project by Aleksandra Mir. The umbrella is big enough to cover 16 people at once, if they are willing. Mir took the brolly on a tour of Paris, London, Dresden, Copenhagen, New York and Martinique to see how people would react to it. The receptions were varied.
5. Manta Ray Parasol
Manta rays kind of look like umbrellas, don’t they? If they didn’t before, they do now! The Manta Ray Parasol was designed with the sea creature in mind. This is a furniture parasol for sun shade, much too big to carry around in the rain.
6. UFO Cap Umbrella
It’s a rain cap! No, It’s an umbrella! No, it’s both! The advantages of the UFO Cap Umbrella design is that it doesn’t have a handle, so you can fold it up and keep it in your purse or backpack. Since your head holds it up, both of your hands are free. The downside is the multitude of people who will point and laugh at you.
7. LED Umbrella
This umbrella is straight out of the movie Blade Runner. And who couldn’t use a little extra light when it’s gloomy and wet? The shaft is lit by LEDs powered by 3 AAA batteries. Can double as a light saber, or even a flashlight.
8. Squirt Gun
Even more fun than pretending your umbrella is a samurai sword or a light saber, this umbrella is a real working weapon! When deployed, rainwater is funneled down the shaft and into a squirt gun. For your own safety, you might want to limit your targets to people who are already wet.
9. Pileus
Possibly because of the many things as you can do with an umbrella shaft, we haven’t looked at the possibilities of the canopy. In this case, it makes a dandy projection screen! Pileus is the name given to the internet umbrella, a concept umbrella with which you can take and share photographs.
The current prototype has two main functions: photo-sharing and 3D map navigation. The photo-sharing function is connected to Flickr, then a user can share their finding (e.g. new shops, beautiful scenes) in a city with his/her friends taking a picture by the camera. The screen also shows beautiful photo-streams retrieved from shared-pictures in a Flickr community. The photo-function is operated by a simple action on the umbrella with a motion sensor without any complicated operations.
10. Pet Umbrella
You must walk the dog, even when the rain is falling. Protect your pooch with the Snoozer Pet Umbrella It has a bendable shaft that hooks to your dog’s collar, and a leash attached to the top of the canopy. The product goes by Pet Umbrella, but we all know you’re not going to get a cat to walk in the rain, much less use an umbrella.
See also: The mental_floss Lunchtime Quiz on Umbrellas.
Comments (14)
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The cloud umbrella looks lovely, but I’m pretty sure water would just run down the sides and drip directly on the carrier’s head. I guess designers are more concerned with aesthetics than practicalities!
posted by Kelsey on 9-17-2009 at 9:22 am
I can see the cloud umbrella working, to an extent. Inbetween the “clouds,” they’ve probably stitched it together in order for rain not to drench the carrier, but the water would pool up and make the umbrella much more cumbersome. Also, deflation and packing must be annoying after about the fourth time.
posted by Steven on 9-17-2009 at 9:56 am
The Nubrella design looks flawed, as well…it looks like your legs would get soaked!
posted by Jo on 9-17-2009 at 9:59 am
The Manta Ray parasol is beautiful! If I had a pool, I would so buy one of these!
Now they need a pet umbrella that the pet can carry. I’m not walking out in the rain with her! Sheesh!
posted by Hyacinth on 9-17-2009 at 10:05 am
The cloud umbrella would be better if the handle was like a bike pump. But I agree it looks like it would drip on you. But that happens anyway, let’s face it, even with ordinary umbrellas.
posted by birdboot on 9-17-2009 at 11:03 am
I have always questioned the wisdom of holding what is essentially a metal pole above you head in rainstorm, yet people seem reluctant to deviate from the design maybe because the alternatives just flat look silly.
posted by KMorgen on 9-17-2009 at 12:16 pm
Isn’t there an umbrella that collects rain water? And there’s a real flaw with the pet umbrella. What if your dog doesn’t wear a collar?
posted by Sara in AL on 9-17-2009 at 12:31 pm
THANK YOU! I now have the perfect gift for my friend’s birthday. He is going to geek out over the Samurai Umbrella.
posted by NateJ on 9-17-2009 at 1:05 pm
is the guy with the nubrella wearing his jeans backwards? Criss Cross style?
posted by Harry Seaward on 9-17-2009 at 2:08 pm
You forgot about the unbreakable umbrella!
posted by Shanna Suburbia on 9-17-2009 at 2:35 pm
I’m embarressed to admit I’d probably buy the pet umbrella as my dog HATES the rain…which means she takes twice as long to do her business and I get twice as wet.
What I want to see is a hybrid-dog/human umbrella. It would attach to the collar/harness to connect to an umbrella to keep the dog dry (would be sold in various sizes for different sized dogs) and then from the top of the umbrella would be your leash. At the end of the leash, where you hold it, is a handle connected to a human umbrella! Both of you stay dry, it’ll make millions :) Especially if it has a touch button to open and close which opens and close BOTH umbrellas together.
Talk about “lazy convenience,” I would totally buy that product.
posted by Lilly on 9-17-2009 at 4:02 pm
if those of you questioning the “Cloud Umbrella” would look at the website attached to the name in the article, you would see that there are no holes on the top anywhere so rain will stay away, and also the handle is a pump. Go back to the top of the article and click the yellow collored words “cloud umbrella”, you will see it from other angles and see it being inflated to an extent…. c’mon people you read mental floss you should have the brains to look at something closer before you draw your conclusion… not trying to say anyone is dumb, I just thought people who read this stuff were at least somewhat educated in the art of research
posted by jeremiah on 9-17-2009 at 6:14 pm
in regards to the UFO Umbrella…. I cant see anyone buying that for their poor child and sending them to school… “here ya go son go look rediculous so the other kids can riducule you and make you feel insignificant”
posted by jeremiah on 9-17-2009 at 6:16 pm
@jeremiah – I ‘researched’ the cloud umbrella before commenting and I think the general consensus from all of us who criticised the design in the first place is that even if there were no holes in between the ‘bubbles’ the raindrops would still slide down the sides of the spherical shapes and end up dripping from underneath, on top of the person.
The link does nothing to explain this problem.
posted by dangermouse on 9-17-2009 at 8:54 pm