The KAZbrella folds the wet surface into the inside

Feb 18, 2015 14:20 GMT  ·  By

Umbrellas are so very useful that pretty much everyone in the world can recognize one on sight, and will always bemoan their absence when they are caught by an unexpected rainfall.

They do have one problem though: they drip. Badly. Some are made from a smoother material that doesn't hold water too well, but even then they still end up covered in stubborn droplets.

Designer Jenan Kazim decided to finally deal with that problem. In fact, he figured that he may as well make it so that owners never come into contact with the wet side.

The secret turned out to be quite simple: reversing the folding and extension mechanism of the canopy.

Essentially, the umbrella folds upwards, so that the dry underside is left on the exterior when the umbrella is closed.

This also happens to provide a benefit in that you can now pull the umbrella after you through narrow doors or into a car and the umbrella won't break because of it.

The new umbrella (albeit still a 3D printed prototype) is called KAZbrella and will be the star of a new crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Until the campaign starts, you can get yourself on the mailing list so that you'll be informed when it goes up.