Prism Kites Story

Prism Kites Story

What happens when you combine an obsession with flying, a knack for building things and backgrounds in architecture and graphic design? A thriving business that builds and sells, well, kites.

You make kites for a living? That's a question that Mark Reed, President of Prism Designs, has been hearing regularly for the last 16 years. Ever since what started as a hobby morphed into a full-fledged business.

It all began back in the late 80's when a friend brought an early two-line sport kite to college. An avid windsurfer, pilot and competitive sailor, Mark was immediately captivated. Unfortunately, the kite didn't come with any instructions, so the friends spent months just figuring out how to fly it. But since the darn thing had cost $100, they weren't about to give up.

Once they finally got the kite in the air and zooming around, everyone they knew got hooked. A chance purchase turned into a full-fledged group addiction. Soon, Mark and his childhood friend Scobie Puchtler had kites of their own and were flying every chance they got: before class, after class, in hurricanes and in the dead of winter-it didn't matter as long as there was wind.

Not the kites you used to know. Back then, sport kites were pretty primitive. Most were modeled after the earliest hang gliders with simple triangular sails. And they were built out of inexpensive nylon with heavy fiberglass frames. The steered around OK, but couldn't be easily re-launched or do many tricks. But around then windsurfing was really starting to take off and sail-making technology was rapidly improving, so it didn't take long for Mark and Scobie to decide they could come up with something better.

Mark bought a sewing machine, and he started scavenging local sail maker dumpsters for high-tech cloth scraps. Cast-off carbon-fiber arrow shafts proved ideal for building durable, lightweight frames. Before long he was making one or two new prototypes a week. Some of the designs were total disasters, but others were truly innovative. No matter what, every time they flew the kites they drew a crowd.

People would watch in amazement as these incredible looking kites ripped across the sky, diving and soaring like nothing they'd ever seen before. Many asked how they could buy one, but at this point, the kites simply weren't for sale.

Blurring the lines between work and play. All that changed in 1991 when Mark, Scobie and two other friends decided to turn their obsession into a business and start manufacturing kites for sale. On a whim, they rented a tiny house in Seattle, put a workshop in the basement and a fax machine upstairs, and moved in on a shoestring.

Their first kite, the Radian, got tons of attention for its fresh look, unusual performance and unparalleled attention to detail. It had 152 individual parts, and remains one of the most complex and unusual sport kites ever produced. Most people thought they were insane to base their business upon something so difficult to make, but the team took it as a challenge and was forced to develop more advanced tools and manufacturing techniques that made the Radian possible.

Since sport kiting was still in its infancy, initial sales were made by traveling to kite festivals and visiting local retailers around the country. In every town with a kite shop, they would talk the owner into putting a few in the store on consignment. All the while, they kept pushing the design and development envelope by exploring new tricks, materials, and technology that set new standards for the growing industry.

Remembering their early struggles with learning to fly their first sport kite, the guys decided that people would be far happier with their purchase if customers received a complete book on sport kiting when they purchased a kite. They wrote the first definitive book on sport kiting and included one with every kite. For kite shops, this added benefit made the decision to stock Prism kites a no-brainer. Suddenly Prism wasn't just selling kites; it was offering the world a whole new sport, and creating a devoted customer base as well.

Because the kiting community was so small, it didn't take long for the Prism name, and the company's reputation for innovation and quality, to spread quickly across the country and then to Europe, Asia and anywhere that kiting was starting to grow. Soon the foursome was struggling to keep up with the demand, and the operation quickly grew into a new manufacturing facility with 30 employees during peak season.

Still flying high. Prism has now sold hundreds of thousands of kites to date. Over the years, some things have changed...The original partners have moved on, leaving Mark Reed at the helm of the company. Manufacturing is now split between Seattle and Asia, allowing economies of scale and high-end custom work within the same company. And today Prism carries three lines of kites with models designed for everyone from the first-time flyer to world-ranked competition pilots. What hasn't changed is their dedication to creating innovative, high-quality kites and sharing their passion for flight with the world.