Michael Graves On Everything Else*

In what feels like a past life, back in the late 1980s I was very involved in kites. I designed them, made them, flew them. All sorts. I traveled extensively in the process. I did a little competitive kite making & flying, won a couple of awards, and generally had a great time.

During this time there came to the realm of kites a few new ideas, including indoor kite flying. Indoor kite flying is more than a little counter-intuitive as most people think that you need wind, hence you need to be outdoors. Not true as it happens.

With the adoption of modern materials like extremely light, strong carbon fiber tubes and whisper-light rip-stop Polyester cloth, kites can be made light enough to fly the faintest hint of a breeze. Extremely light, strong Spectra fiber string helps, too. Combine these new materials with the fact that just walking backwards you move at the equivalent of 2 mph, and you have the ability to induce sufficient breeze through movement.

Flying indoors is not easy because it requires near constant movement, and extreme sensitivity to the behavior of the kite at the end of your stings. It takes a certain finesse to do it well. Flying sport kites indoors was the exclusive domain of just a handful of very ambitious and silly people in the early 1990′s…and I was one of them.

Fast-forward almost twenty years and this is what you get….

I simply cannot express how unbelievably good this couple are at what they’re doing. They have a combination of grace and a diversity of skills that you may never again see collected in quite the same way. I stand in awe of the the beauty and spectacle of their creativity.