Eleven Grams of Poetry

Design Award 2015

Stephanie Rebonati, Hochparterre 12 | December 2015 | Elf Gramm Poesie pdf in german

Architect and industrial designer Thomas Horvath has designed the lightest kite in the world. It flies without wind and is awarded the first price of "The Best".

Left astonished

Constructed of a breath of nothing, this device delivers a lot. Thomas Horvath's zero wind kite "I'll be back" climbs up to hundred meters high and also flies inside a building. If the ground gets warmed, it plays with the thermals and makes energy visible in its flight behavior. With its magic expression, the kite floats extremely calmly and spectacularly slowly.

Since last winter, the small kite is available with the sail consisting of ultralight spectra laminate. This way it was possible to reduce the total weight down to eleven grams.

While playing, the kite effects what poetry can do: It makes us wonder and throws us back to ourselves. Horvath invested his longtime experience into the construction of a toy that takes playing much serious.

Less is more here also: Control consists of leaving the device its own will. This formats the relationship between the object and us in a new way: we become astonished observers.

Meret Ernst

The original text by Stephanie Rebonati

Swiss architect and industrial designer builds the world's lightest kite. The device weighs a scant eleven grams and is the result of technical exploit. Portrait of a constructive poet.

This thing with the kites - is it sport for you?
No.

So what is it?
It’s a game.

A game?
Definitely.

Tell me about it.
There’s a contemplative element to it. Observing what the kite does, what the air does.

But your kites don’t need wind.
Not wind, but a wispy breeze on an evening at the beach is always nice.

Do you say line or string?
I say wire (cable in german, in english it's just flying line). The reel is on the ground, by the way. Not in your hand. With one hand, you give the kite occasional impulses.

Is that like directing an orchestra?
I’ve never heard that comparison. My kites have little to do with control. It’s more a matter of letting go.

What do you mean with that?
With conventional multi-line steerable kites, the cables must always be tensioned. Otherwise, they will come down. My kites want to climb. The line rests calmly on the ground and in your hand. Thus, I can give impulses when the kite needs them.

When does it need them?
When it wants to circle, hover overhead, or glide near the ground.

Do you call yourself a kite builder or a kite engineer?
I don’t really know.

Well, basically, you’re an architect and an industrial designer.
I used to be that. I’m an inventor and entrepreneur.

Thomas Horvath designed the world’s lightest kite. It weighs eleven grams and “I’ll be back” is its name. The designation comes from “Terminator” in the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger is ignored at the police station. He looks the officer in the eye and says: “I’ll be back.” When he does, he demolishes the precinct with a monstrous car. Thomas Horvath’s zero-wind kite doesn’t do that, of course. It is very quiet. When lying prone, it looks like a resting butterfly. It's wafer-thin, colorlessly translucent sail glimmers like mother-of-pearl. It has a wing-span of one meter and, on a large table, looks rather small. But it’s clever, this seeming manifestation of pure aesthetics. It is pure high-tech. To craft it, Thomas Horvath customized his cutting plotters, his lathe, sewing and rewinding machines. He installed special lamps, purchased glasses with increased magnification, and delicate tools needed to work in the sub-millimeter magnitude. The Zurich native builds every kite personally. He closes the door and turns off the phone because “they can’t be sewn like a bed sheet.” The tolerance for symmetry is less than one millimeter. It takes ultimate precision and concentration.

The frame of the kite is fashioned with exactly two meters of carbon tubing. An adult can trample on them, a dog bite them: the 1.5-millimeter rods won’t break. The sail consists of extremely thin, colorless Spectra laminate, a very lightweight polyethylene film from North America. Spectra is the brand name for the raw fibers that have a crystalline structure and a very low density. These fibers feature ultra-low elongation and are Virtually tear-resistant. This is good because the sail can easily be overlooked when it is on the ground. At the nose, spine, wingtips and leading edge spars, the kite is set with symmetrically cut black polyester Icarex and Dacron elements. “Genuinely minimalistic,” Thomas Horvath says and turns his kite around. He points at the bridle. It consists of sheathed Spectra lines that are braided in Canada to his specifications. The bridle is the interface between the kite and the flying line.

The kite interprets the “Tensegrity” principle established by American Designer Richard Buckminster Fuller: The structure is under tension and all parts form an interconnected integrity. The principle combines elasticity with stability. That is how the “I’ll be back spectra laminate edition” (today: I’ll be back urban flow edition) is constructed. The lightest kite in the world. Eleven grams. A combination of high-tech and poetry. In the air, it is agile and slow at the same time. After an impulse, a short tug on the line, the kite instantly decelerates again and glides on as if nothing had happened. It can calmly float along and then soar steeply again just before it touches the ground. Indoors, too. For spectators, this is especially fascinating.

Nowadays, Thomas Horvath only works as an architect and industrial designer if projects are submitted to him directly. He doesn’t do pitches or participate in “competitions into the blue yonder.” The entrepreneur makes a living on his invention. “All of this is trying to take things to the extreme.” He means “it doesn’t get more accurate than this, so I hope.” He doesn’t seem conceited when he says that. Here is a man in a checkered shirt, glasses perched over his forehead, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, who candidly admits that he is fascinated with his work. He has been building kites for 15 years. He sketched, tweaked, tested, and discarded. Early this year, he premiered the world’s lightest kite, the “I’ll be back” model in Spectra laminate (dyneema composite fabric) that scintillates like mother-of-pearl, looks very precious and vulnerable but is actually quite indestructible and yes, ingenious.

Can “I’ll be back” be optimized in any way?
I can’t find a method to make it more precise. It’s as accurate as my Rolex Submariner. End of message (smiles).

How do you normally explain why it flies?
In workshops, I keep seeing people standing around in strained postures, clutching the cable. I advise them to let go and just watch the kite. We have problems with that in the stressed western world.

Is that maybe why you build kites?
Maybe.

How do your kites benefit society?
It’s about deceleration. Slow down and such things.

What are all these titanium frames and wheelsets doing here?
I build and ride bikes as a hobby. On the Uetliberg and in the Engadine. This front wheel, for instance, a Crossmax Series 2.2 with flat aluminum spokes, weighs a bit more than 600 grams. I ride down the Uetliberg Trail with it. Crazy, what?

Infoline about Thomas Horvath:
The designer and architect invents, develops and produces zero-wind kites since 2000 and markets the extremely light flying objects through the kite lab in Zurich. The lab emerged step by step in Thomas Horvath's architectural and industrial design studio, which he founded in 1994.

Infoline about the kite "i'll be back spectra laminate edition",
today: I’ll be back urban flow edition:

Concept, design, production: Thomas Horvath, Zurich
Wing material: Spectra laminate = dyneema composite fabric
Frame material: Carbon
Total weight: 11 g
Wingspan: 1'000 mm