The Sa umbrella is said to use the "principles of origami" to maintain its shape.
Creator Nooka describes the details:
The SA™ uses planar tension to generate its form. The inner and outer canopies expand and compress 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 when exposed to high winds.
Because of the new canopy design, the umbrella canopy is able to be constructed of one material. Because of 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.
