Introducing the Sa™

The Sa™ is the umbrella reimagined. It does away with the traditional skeleton and mesh umbrella structure, for a much more modern and efficient design. Beyond it's completely new canopy design, the Sa™ also innovates with its environmentally conscious material choices, has a completely innovative internalized handle mechanism and magnetic closure system, and features many other groundbreaking new features.

Canopy and Functionality

Like origami, The Sa uses planar tension to generate its form. The inner and outer canopies expand and contract in unison to open and close the umbrella. This new design allows the umbrella to be lighter, since it does not need the added weight of an inner metal skeleton. Also, since there are no exposed, moving components, the umbrella is stronger and will last longer. Furthermore, since the material is flexible when not in tension, it can easily bounce back into shape, even when exposed to high winds.

To ensure structural rigidity and strength against wind, the six guide panels, which can be seen along the ridges of the canopy, will be made with a stronger version of the same material. These guide panels not only allow the umbrella to open and close, but also provide strong structural support from the very tip of the canopy to it's farthest edges. 

With the innovative design of the Sa™, we are able to produce the canopy out of just one material. Thanks to this, we will be able to manufacture the entire umbrella with highly recyclable and easily repairable materials. In addition to this, since the umbrella canopy is unibody, it can be removed and replaced with another design or repaired easily. Or conversely, the handle and pole can be swapped for another design as well. For this reason, several variations and color combinations can be chosen.

In addition to this, another nice feature of the umbrella is that it has more headroom underneath the canopy, since there is no metal structure taking up space. Beyond that, we have designed the panels in such a way so that the very tips of the umbrella are less pointy, and therefore will be safer to walk around with.

Pole & Handle

In addition to the completely new canopy form, this umbrella is also the first umbrella to use an internalized mechanism. This is possible because the distance between the open and closed positions on the Sa can be shorter than with traditional umbrellas. Since this is the case, there is no need to have any exposed slider components.

To open the Sa, you simply need to rotate the bottom of the handle. The spring-loaded mechanism will open the umbrella automatically.

To close the Sa, pull on the handle, just like you would with a bicycle pump or pinball machine. The handle will retract.

Magnetic Closure System

Environmental

All parts of the canopy, mechanism, and handle are made with highly recyclable, waterproof plastic. For this reason, it is very environmentally friendly. Although plastic is often thought of as a disposable material, its impermeability, lightness, strength, and long-lifespan make it ideal for an application such as this. All other components of the umbrella, such as magnets or springs, will also be implemented and sourced with the greatest care as to remain as recyclable and environmental friendly as possible.

Process

Colors

We will be offering the Sa™ in the following colors for this Kickstarter campaign: Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Black, Grey, and White. 

In the future we will expand the lineup to include various other colors, combinations of colors, and will also expand to patterns. For this campaign we wanted to ensure that we would be able to deliver the umbrellas by the estimated delivery date, without production delays, so we chose this simple, beautiful color palate for our first models.

Production Timeline

Currently, we have designed and tested the umbrella and proven it is functional. Past that, we have a utility patent pending. We have also begun the process with our production manager and manufacturing facilities, and will begin taking the first steps towards production shortly. At this point we have had the manufacturing facility and our production manager verify that the structural soundness, mechanism, and form should all be obtainable.

We estimate delivery of the umbrella by February or March of 2015, only a few months away from now. As with any production process we may incur delays, but with Matthew’s years of experience and resources in the design industry, production should progress very smoothly. We will keep everyone updated on the status of the project as frequently as we can.

Once the umbrella is produced we will be able to use Matthew's office to manage customer support and follow up with umbrella production past Kickstarter.

Stretch Goals + Future Developments

If we are able to meet our stretch goal of $100,000 we will offer the compact version of the umbrella. This version of the umbrella can be compressed into one third of the original size, can be flat packed, and has a telescoping pole. Since we still must conduct testing of the mechanism with this model, we can't promise a firm delivery date, but we estimate that delivery of this should take about two to three months longer than the standard version.