Umbrella is one of the tools that have been familiar among
the people; this tool can protect us from the rain and also sun exposure. And
for centuries, people use umbrellas with the same design, even though in fact,
the traditional design still has many drawbacks. Two inventors, Cahay Ho and
Kevin Truong eventually create Cypress to handle some problems that usually
could destroy the traditional umbrellas.
At first glance, the appearance of Cypress looks not too
much different from the regular umbrella: there are canopy, stretcher, main
tube and handle. But interestingly, it takes advantage of stronger new suspension
system, ensuring the umbrella structure won't be flipped because of the heavy
wind. Instead of connecting to the hinge, Cypress' frame is made to be able to
grip firmly, and can adapt to the direction of the wind.
Two developers who join with the Hedgehog team replace the
thin metal structure with a tubular component, like a camera tripod. This
approach makes Cypress 10 times stronger than the regular umbrella. Then, the
inventors have also found the design to store rainwater in the canopy through
the build-in cover, so it won't be wetting your bag.
Uniquely, you can replace the canvas canopy with ease, and
the developer plans to sell this part separately. The process to make Cypress
is not easy, the Hedgehog team took ten months to work on the most powerful and
the most minimalist version of Cypress umbrella.
The further details of Cypress Umbrella development will be
revealed in this month in conjunction with the fundraising campaign on
Kickstarter. Based on the information on the official Facebook page, the
campaign will be started on October 20th 2015.
If the target can be achieved, Cypress will begin to be
distributed in the middle of next year, and is priced at around US $ 65. The
canvas canopy itself will be sold for $ 11.