“I put my ear to the ground and let my mind wander”
Interview with kite designer Carsten Domann.
How did you get involved with kites?
My uncle took me to fly an old kite that he had built with his father. It was big and heavy and didn't fly, so he bought a book on kite making. Luckily he got hold of Werner Backes' book, because it was just the right thing for us to copy tried and tested shapes.
After I had seen many beautiful kites at kite festivals and in the kite magazine, the design came to the fore for me. I became more and more creative, and so I concentrated on single-liners. It's an incredible feeling when a kite that I've spent a long time designing and building takes off on its first flight and stands nailed to the sky. Then I put my ear to the ground and let my mind wander. As I don't make anything for a living, creating things with my own hands is a wonderful balance for me.
You have recently designed an eddy for Spiderkites, what did you come up with?
When Christoph asked me for a design for an eddy, I immediately thought it was great. Firstly, the Eddy is a great, classic kite. Secondly, it is an honor to create a design in a series together with such big names as Robert Brasington. I wanted it to be a typical design for me, but I don't just follow one style. So I experimented with tribals, stained glass windows and the Kaleido, which eventually won the race. The favorite among the designs had to be built immediately. Together with my daughter, I then sewed a Happy Eddy and we went flying together. That was a lot of fun.
How do you go about designing a kite?
I often use ideas that I've seen somewhere. It usually has nothing to do with kites. Then I take a sheet of paper, a pencil and an eraser and start drawing. The focus is often on the design and the shape of the kite results from that.
I'm the kind of person who thinks carefully about what I can do beforehand - so I build the kite in my head before I start in practice. Sometimes a simpler or better solution to a detail emerges during construction - in the best case, both.
What do you particularly appreciate about your design work?
That's a difficult question for me. Most of the time I just do it and let what I have in my head come out. I don't enjoy sewing the reinforcements and pockets onto the kite as much as I used to. The many little things in the process are particularly great. When I have erased X times during the design and then it finally fits. When I use a different color and suddenly a harmony emerges. At the end, of course, when the kite flies. That is indescribable.
