Nick James: Kites

Nick James is a kitemaker living with bipolar disorder in the UK. From 1985 he has been designing and making kites and for the last nineteen years running workshops in schools. He started by making seagulls, falcons and pterodactyls. He then moved on to designing more abstract and complex kites such as his Angels and Devils.

In 1998 he won a prize in the ‘Concours de Creation’ at Dieppe International Kite Festival (the Olympics of the kite world!). He has been returning to this festival for the last eleven years. As well as this festival abroad he is also regulary invited to fly his kites at festivals around the UK, notably Weymouth, Sunderland, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Bedford, Cleethorpes and Bristol.

Recently he have been making ground based installations letting the wind play a part in the shape and movement of these sculptures. He is also keen to involve passers-by in the work. You may find his website with yet more images at Nick James Kitemaker:

Please enjoy his work below: