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Anne and Eric have been together for many years. Anne originally trained as a designer (first in class!) at the Sheridan College School of Design in Toronto, Canada. Eric was a member of the collective that ran Guerilla, an underground newspaper in Toronto for a number of years after high school, and then took that experience into a period working as an operator of offset printing presses for various companies.

Anne’s interest in design focussed more and more on textiles and the dyeing and printing of them and Eric was willing to move his interests in graphic design on paper into the world of textiles. They founded Gothic Design as a textile printing studio on April 1, 1976, intitially in the basement of their house on Gothic Avenue in Toronto, but eventually in an old warehouse space in downtown Toronto.

They initially spent most of their time designing and producing items made by screenprinting textiles that they could then sell on the craft fair circuit in Ontario in the winter, and the folk festival circuit in the summer. They designed and made felt hand puppet kits for children, wall hangings, cloth calendars, silk scarves, placemats, tea cozies and other domestic goods, in fact almost anything using printed fabric other than clothing.

In an effort to find something they could sell in the summer that was instantly usable, they hit on the idea of making kites. After many fruitless attempts to fly test prototypes on the roof of their warehouse, they found the Touch The Sky kite store in Toronto, went in to look at their kites and discovered KiteLines Magazine and the world of kitemakers and fliers for the first time. The first kites they sold were small silk deltas, easy for them to print, but extremely difficult to sew together.

Then Eric got the copy of KiteLines that had the article “Mastering Nylon” by Bill Tyrell. It had a wealth of information about cutting, sewing and working with ripstop nylon for kitemaking. At the very end, Bill mentioned that he hoped to find an easy way to colour ripstop nylon, but hadn’t yet.We, being foolish, wrote a letter to KiteLines saying that we had been screenprinting with acid dyes on silk, but knew that these dyes worked on nylon as well and couldn’t see there being a problem.They immediately received a package of ripstop by mail from Bill with his request to try printing on it. We tried it out with some dyepaste they had for silk, it worked, and they got good results that they were unable to duplicate again for five years!

It turned out that the brand of ripstop, what coatings (if any) had been applied to it, and a host of other variables were critical. Bill got his fabric as mill ends and bankruptcy stock, and never usually had the same fabric twice in a row. Eric and Anne eventually found suitable fabric, made many changes to their printing techniques, and got colours they were happy with several years later.

They moved from Toronto to an old turn-of-the-century schoolhouse in a small village in southwestern Ontario that had enough space for both their living accomodations and the studio in 1981. By 1984, when they went to their first American Kite Association convention in Nashville, Tennessee, they were making only kites and kite paraphernalia under their trade name, Boreal Kites, and the rest is history.

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Simon began making kites in 2008 when his wife bought a sewing machine and he was determined to learn to sew and make his own kites, wanting to enjoy designs that he was seeing on-line and in Kiting magazine but unable to find commercially. Basically learning everything he knows by reading and communicating on-line (particularly through the forum on Kitebuilder.com) and through the practice of making kites, Simon concentrates his efforts on his own designs and shapes – almost always starting with a “blank” plan and writing one (rather than following one.) His forte is with cellular kites, enjoying the much greater possibilities that 3 dimensions allow.

Simon attended his first AKA Convention in 2011 (Wildwood, NJ) where he participated in his first kite making competition as a Novice, having never been around a competition previously. He left with an un-precedented 8 first place trophies, including the Member’s Choice award and the Grand National Championship for his cellular kite“Extensivity” – which also won the trophies for highest scores in Visual Appeal, Structural Design, and Craftsmanship.

He returned to the AKA Convention in 2012 (Enid, OK) where he again took a handful of first place trophies in kite making, including a back-to-back Grand National Championship with his bi-plane design “Barnstormer.”

Simon can be found on-line, and enjoys making the festival circuit in the Great Lakes/Eastern-Midwest region during the flying season – where he can be found flying, smiling, and making new friends.

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Ron has traveled to numerous countries as an invited guest of international kite festivals.  Included in his travels are Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, England, France, Colombia, Philippines, amongst others.

Ron has taught several fliers during his career.  Including that was lessons for professional ice skaters for use of kites in their program.

Professionally Ron has been hired to consult at fashion photo shoots, commercials, private functions, and an advisor on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”

An architect in Southern California by day, Ron always finds time to fly his kites either in the wind or indoors.  Ron’s kite bag contains quadline, dual line, or single line sport kites.

He is honored to again be invited to Swift Current.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vLugYWp9HgI

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Mark & Jeanette Lummas make up two thirds of Team “Too Much Fun” . The team initially intended to fly only as a quad line team but has since moved on to become one of the few multi-disciplinary stunt kite teams in the world. The team’s repertoire includes distinct individual performers, 2 separate “pairs” combinations, as well as a three person team. You can read more about Team “Too Much Fun” here!

Mark & Jeanette Lummas moved from England to sunny California in October 2000. The couple have two children: Benjamin and Samantha. We are excited to have them fly at Windscape Kite Festival this year!

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You can see his photos and his kites on his website: www.yvonhache.com

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He has been featured on many television and stage productions. Those include Canada’s Got Talent Season 1, Shadows of Eternity, and Escape the Darkness, just to name a few. Check out his Canada’s Got Talent audition here: http://vimeo.com/40335411

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More information coming soon.

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They are experts in building their own giant kites, and at flying them as well!

Please check out their website for more information on their fantastic team:
http://www.nolimit-team.de/

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In Scott’s own words:

“I make stuff to satisfy my inner desire to… make stuff. For the past 20+ years it’s been banners and kites ( some of which actually fly). I always enjoy what I make and sometimes I’m very pleased with the outcome (that’s why I don’t sell very much, I get attached to it). It’s all about building what’s aesthetically pleasing to me (of course I have no formal art training). I enjoy the drawing, designing, painting, and appliquéing aspect of my work. The sparring and bridling part is such a chore but I realize those are necessities in order to bring the idea to life.”

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