At the time he was studying sculpture in university in London, and couldn’t afford to buy a new one after his first flyer was pulverized. So he decided to construct one on his own, stitching together materials available to him for free through the art school. “It was very utilitarian,” says Jansch. “I didn’t pay much attention to how it looked. I just wanted it to fly.”

Since he first started making kites in the mid-’90s, Jansch has designed some 50 or 60 by hand. Today his kites are a bit more complicated than the introductory stunt variety. Each kite costs him some 300 hours of his life and several thousand dollars from his bank account.