Rainwater is usually safe to drink directly unless it has caught some contaminants on its way down. However, you don’t want to take that chance, do you? Well luckily for us, BMSTU design student Volkan Ugurel has come up with an innovative idea of integrating a filtration system right into the shaft of an umbrella. This way you can drink or store purified rainwater on the go.

Volkan’s umbrella design has a three-level filtration system, first of which is a metal mesh on the top to block coarse particles. Inside the top part of the shaft is a replaceable unit that contains a carbon filter and a membrane filter, which can remove all the organic chemicals as well as nasty tastes and odors from the rainwater. When the filtration process is over, the drinkable water gets filled up in a 220-ml glass bottle attached at the bottom of the shaft, with ridges for easy which easily comes off when you turn it. You can also mount any plastic bottle with a standard thread to the bottom if you’re really thirsty or if it’s raining really heavily. Maybe even fill up a few bottles for later use.

The overall design features a sleek shaft and translucent canopy with nine spokes, and hence the name ‘Nonagon Umbrella’. It was inspired by the music album ‘Nonagon Infinity’, a record that’s designed to be played as an infinite loop since the end of one song is the beginning of the next one, signifying the never-ending life cycle of water as it moves from one place to another!

Designer: Volkan Uğurel