My name is Seb Vanden Bogaerde. I live in North Northumberland, I make my kites at home using a fairly battered old singer sewing machine, and fly them mostly on local beaches, although I have taken them travelling to many European destinations too.
I began doing this in 2020 as a memorial to my late dad, who surprised everyone including no doubt himself by dying suddenly and way too soon. His last words apparently being ‘I wasn’t expecting this’. Nor was I.
When I was very young my dad flew hang gliders, and my formative experience of watching him do this caused him and flight to be inextricably linked in my mind. So, Immersed in grief and needing to do something to process the experience of loss I taught myself how to use a sewing machine and made a start.
The success of my early efforts astonished me, and so I continued to explore what I could do with the process of design and make, prepare and go fly. I should add frequent repair to that list!.
There will always be a small aspect of memorial, what I rather haughtily sometimes describe as ‘Votive Antennas’ about what I do, but the whole thing has since become a much bigger exploration of my own fascinations around the joy of homemade and accessible flight experiences.
GroundThing. AirThing. 