The Highbrow Kite

By: Matthew Battles
April 6, 2009

Thomas Horvath’s kites are like every kite you’ve ever seen, and like no kite you’ve ever seen. They’re what kites dream of when they lie sleeping in a tangle of string at the bottom of the closet.

Horvath uses biomimicry, high-tech materials, and structural principles inspired by Buckminster Fuller to create his deceptively simple kites. In low wind they come alive, floating at the end of slack string, then darting suddenly skyward or spinning lazily to a soft landing. The video below shows a Horvath kite in an astonishing, even eerie exploration of flight.

As you’ll see at his web site, Horvath’s creations are highbrow kites — and they come with a highbrow price tag. But in true creative commons fashion, he also offers complete instructions for would-be builders of such elegant fliers, and will sell you the carbon-fiber tubes and space-age icarex fabric he deploys in his designs. On a windy Spring day, the possibilities make us giddy.