The Jonas bowlers
An umbrella seems like most utilitarian of things that cannot be improved – it opens and keeps you dry. Does it really need bells and whistles? Japan’s Fantastick thinks so. They’ve created a smart umbrella, and not just any smart umbrella but one named Jonas. If that name seems peculiar, it’s just because of the usual Japanese whimsy. Which also shows up in the design of Jonas: pongee cloth in seven colours with fibre-glass ribs, an ultra-light aluminium body and a moustached handle topped with a bowler hat.
The British quirkiness might seem odd, though appropriate, given the weather of the British Isles. Jonas, however, goes several steps further than protection; he moves to prediction. Synced with a smartphone app, Jonas downloads weather data on the fly, displaying the daily forecast with an LED glow. Alerts will be sent to your phone if you lose your Jonas, going as far as notifying you of incoming calls, messages, emails and lost smartphones. Maybe you didn’t know you needed a smart umbrella before, but now that you’ve been introduced to Jonas, maybe you and he are a match.
