Taiwanese students Lin Min-Wei and Liu Li-Hsiang won 2012 Red Dot design award in Productivity category with their Rain Shield, a design concept for an umbrella with a brand new style. Forgoing the complicated structure of the typical umbrella, Rain Shield is formed by a single curved steel wire and a telescopic rod. It has no pointed ends or sharp edges, and it won’t blow inside out in windy conditions. It forms a shield-like shape that is easier to handle in the wind. It folds and compresses easily into a 180-millimetre-diameter disc that can be stored in a bag. It is collapsed by simply retracting the telescopic pole and swirling the shield surface onto itself.
