Meet Thomas Wittbold

He has a laid back beach lover’s heart, touched by the hand of spirituality. Tommy is a world class creative talent as a film maker, photographer, inventor, writer, philosopher, musician, and a highly evolved creative thinker. We asked Tommy what do you most want to achieve he said, “To help and protect people by using the wisdom and creativity gained from a lifetime now within me. To forever change and enhance other people’s lives. I will live on forever on beaches all over the world for eternity, protecting people from the sun. They may not know my name but I hope they will enjoy what I have done.”

Filmmaker and Photographer

Walt Disney said, “Tom Wittbold is the kind of creative talent that I am looking for.” From his time with Disney Studios Cal Arts, to associate producing and filming many ABC Sports television shows, Thomas Wittbold is recognized as one of “America’s most outstanding commercial photographers” by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He’s served numerous major U.S. corporation’s film and photographic needs, from television commercials, to corporate advertising photography and television shows for companies like IBM, GE, P&G, NBC, Liberty Mutual, CBS, PBS and Texaco. Thomas Wittbold in his early 20s was shooting photography for Pepsi’s Corporate Graphic Arts Department. The President of Pepsi and Vice President of Advertising and Promotions were so impressed with Mr. Wittbold’s, creativity, honesty and talent, that they offered him an amazing opportunity for a 26 year old man.

Thomas Wittbold accepted the offer and worked at PepsiCo’s World Headquarters as a level 13 Pepsi Cola Corporate Executive responsible for enhancing the visual image of Pepsi Cola Company, PepsiCo and all PepsiCo products worldwide. He is a producer of numerous films and television programs. Variety Magazine said, “Thomas Wittbold, executive producer of the Victor Borge Show, has produced the best production of Victor Borge’s talents ever made. It will be his legacy.” Billions of people around the world have seen Thomas Wittbold’s films, photography and T.V. shows.

How and Why Tommy Created the Tommy Shade

“How did you ever think of that?”

I tell people the actual story of how I decided to solve my umbrella problem after all four of my umbrellas blew away and broke one day at the beach. I thought there has to be a better way, what if a child had been hurt. I was now sitting on the beach, with my 4 broken Dumbrellas, and I wrote down what I wanted to achieve in designing the perfect Sun Shade. This is the list I made, of what I wanted.

  1. It must only use one post that is not in the middle of the shade, out of the way.
  2. It must be simple, lightweight, and easy to transport, set up, use, and not blow away.
  3. It must work with the natural elements, available and stand up to the wind.
  4. It must be strong, the structure sturdy, not prone to breaking in the wind.
  5. It must be elegant, classy, user friendly, safe, and commercially viable.
  6. It must produce a large shaded area, larger than my four broken umbrellas gave.
  7. It must protect people from the sun’s dangerous heat rays and be calming.

Then I looked around, and began to think about the wind, the sand, the birds, the water, the sun, how I could do this. I love to think creatively, and my list told me what I wanted to create and what I did not want, so the puzzle began to challenge me. For months chasing the mystery, I made drawings and thought how to solve the problem for myself, in a way that could benefit humanity forever — because the world and I needed a much better sun shade for the beach.

I had an idea that really made sense to me. I drew a sketch and built my first working prototype. I took it to the beach and set it up, filled the sand bags, and it began to fly perfectly. I could never quite explain how it felt to see what I had worked so hard to create. In my mind, I had succeeded. I was overwhelmed as I laid down under the shade, to savor the moment only rivaled by the birth of my children. I lay there with my eyes closed. A smile came over me. A few tears dripped from my eyes with emotion finding vent at this moment of epiphany.

Then I opened my eyes and many people were looking. They began to approach me, some 20 in all, and almost every one exclaimed, “That is the coolest thing I have ever seen! Where did you get it? I want one!” I told each of them as they asked, “I designed it myself,” and each then exclaimed “How did you ever think of that!”

The fruit of my labor was born that day and solved the puzzle for me and millions of other people who need a great sun shade too.