Wise beyond its years, the DrySpot umbrella embraces the trials of life as soon as it is born.

It recognizes that even its most valiant efforts to battle the elements will end in the garbage can, and wisely chooses not to fight. Its sole desire is to find a place in the cycle of life, leaving behind only dry spots as it is carried from Cab to Café.

Things the DrySpot does well:

It has stalk-like handle attached at the leading nose of the canopy allows the DrySpot to fight its only fight, the temporary shielding of falling water from the hair and clothing of people.

Things the DrySpot does not do:

1. In the interest of self preservation, it does not challenge the wind and the sun.

Like a weather vane, the directional shape embraces prevailing winds, pivoting as needed to eliminate "inside-out" umbrellas.

The foldable rain shield fans out above the user with a translucent canopy that allows sparse winter sun and streetlight's rays to illuminate the human underneath.

2. It does not claim to be indestructible.

Instead, DrySpot is built from 6 distinct parts, made available and easy to assemble by the un-trained and un-tooled. A broken DrySpot can be fixed, not tossed.

3. It accepts, however, the fact that its parts may, someday, end up in the garbage. Therefore, it is made from plastic made from corn. With 100% corn-based "bioplastic" construction, broken parts can rest in peace as they degrade in a Kansas compost pile. The same Kansas compost pile that feeds another crop of corn for making plastic that will become another umbrella.

It is not born from solvents and still eventually may be totally recyclable. Looking forward to that goal, it is constructed from a single material, with no adhesives and no toxic materials.

4. It does not try to accomplish the above for $3 on a Times Square street corner. It believes that being good looking and smart will make it more valuable.

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