SENZ ORIGINAL STORM UMBRELLA
Designer: Gerwin Hoogendoorn
Icsid member school: Delft University of Technology
About the design
The SENZ umbrella is revolutionary for eliminating all well-known umbrella annoyances that have existed over 3,400 years, and making the rain experience fun and comfortable again. Instead of struggling with the wind, the SENZ umbrella allows you to play with the wind, even in strong gusts. The patented construction makes the umbrella windproof up to 70 MPH and the umbrella will not invert. The special shaped 'eye savers' protect the eyes from any possible harm and the aerodynamic shape of the SENZ provides the user an excellent view. Additionally, the innovative opening mechanism of the umbrella has been integrated in the handle, and the smooth oval shaft matches seamlessly with its aerodynamic shape.
The team
Gerwin Hoogendoorn - the creative brain behind SENZ Umbrellas
Philip Hess - responsible for sales, acquisition and marketing
Gerard Kool - responsible for all general aspects of SENZ Umbrellas
The challenge
The challenge was to redesign a 3,400 years old product that has always caused frustrations among its users. Our goal was to design and develop an umbrella that eliminates all the well-known umbrella annoyances: Umbrellas tend to go inside out easily, break, are very comfortable to use in hard wind, give you a bad vision from under the umbrella, and the tips tend to poke you in the eyes. Additionally, the to be designed umbrella should have an appealing look and should be a commercially feasible project.
The process
After experiencing 1 week with 3 broken umbrellas, Gerwin decided it was enough! Gerwin made the first drawings of the SENZ Umbrella before approaching Gerard and Philip to brainstorm about bringing the ultimate umbrella to the market. The process really started on September 1st, 2005.
The first year was spent bringing Gerwin's first ideas of the SENZ Original to a real product.
With financial support from Great Enterprises, the team finished their first samples to take care of the production of our umbrellas. The team decided to go to China, where around 95% of the world production of umbrellas takes place. They wanted their umbrellas to be made by experts, which proved to be very useful, as they helped us optimize our inventions.
Upon the final launch of the product, the media completely flooded them, as no one had ever heard of a storm-proof umbrella like this before. As a result, the initial 10,000 umbrellas were completely sold out in only 9 days! Three months after the initial introduction, the SENZ Umbrella team was proud to have a new batch of completely new and optimized umbrellas.
Awards
Links
Designer: Gerwin Hoogendoorn
Icsid member school: Delft University of Technology
About the design
The SENZ umbrella is revolutionary for eliminating all well-known umbrella annoyances that have existed over 3,400 years, and making the rain experience fun and comfortable again. Instead of struggling with the wind, the SENZ umbrella allows you to play with the wind, even in strong gusts. The patented construction makes the umbrella windproof up to 70 MPH and the umbrella will not invert. The special shaped 'eye savers' protect the eyes from any possible harm and the aerodynamic shape of the SENZ provides the user an excellent view. Additionally, the innovative opening mechanism of the umbrella has been integrated in the handle, and the smooth oval shaft matches seamlessly with its aerodynamic shape.
The team
Gerwin Hoogendoorn - the creative brain behind SENZ Umbrellas
Philip Hess - responsible for sales, acquisition and marketing
Gerard Kool - responsible for all general aspects of SENZ Umbrellas
The challenge
The challenge was to redesign a 3,400 years old product that has always caused frustrations among its users. Our goal was to design and develop an umbrella that eliminates all the well-known umbrella annoyances: Umbrellas tend to go inside out easily, break, are very comfortable to use in hard wind, give you a bad vision from under the umbrella, and the tips tend to poke you in the eyes. Additionally, the to be designed umbrella should have an appealing look and should be a commercially feasible project.
The process
After experiencing 1 week with 3 broken umbrellas, Gerwin decided it was enough! Gerwin made the first drawings of the SENZ Umbrella before approaching Gerard and Philip to brainstorm about bringing the ultimate umbrella to the market. The process really started on September 1st, 2005.
The first year was spent bringing Gerwin's first ideas of the SENZ Original to a real product.
With financial support from Great Enterprises, the team finished their first samples to take care of the production of our umbrellas. The team decided to go to China, where around 95% of the world production of umbrellas takes place. They wanted their umbrellas to be made by experts, which proved to be very useful, as they helped us optimize our inventions.
Upon the final launch of the product, the media completely flooded them, as no one had ever heard of a storm-proof umbrella like this before. As a result, the initial 10,000 umbrellas were completely sold out in only 9 days! Three months after the initial introduction, the SENZ Umbrella team was proud to have a new batch of completely new and optimized umbrellas.
Awards
- Dutch Design Award 2007
- Audi Design Award 2007 (popular vote of the Dutch Design Awards 07)
- Red Dot Design Award 2007
- Nominee German Design Award 2008
- Selected by TIME Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2007
Links