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After admiring the pictures of Matt building the Spider Web Kites on the GWTW Forum, I decided I needed one for my collection. Matt agreed!, and my Synthesis was under construction. What a Beautiful Kite it is, impeccably built and is absolutely one of my best flyer's!. I'm very proud to Feature such a Craftsman as Matt Brown. Matt is one great person, one who's dedicated to his family, and excelling in his quests. Again an Artist willing to share his knowledge!.

Bio
Raised and educated in Arizona
Settled in the Bay Area of California
Age: 43
Interests: Astronomy; Cooking; Kite building, design & flying; Photography; and Singing
Occupation: Pension Administration

At the GWTW Muse Clinic


My Syn at the Color Stage


My Completed Synthesis #001 Drop Dead Gorgeous..


Some Excellent Work Here!. Talk about an Artist!, a real master of sewing and sail painting technique.

The Web graphic on a Virus


The original sketch of the Spider Web/Organic graphic


Synthesis Purple Web Fade (This is the best looking kite made!). IMO


More
Synthesis Blue Web Fade


Le Virus from internet plans


Matt's 5 Year Old Son did the Painting Grafix on this one.


Another of Matt's sons with his sail layout.


Fighters


Auction Fighter


Hand painting a Rok


Another Custom Synthesis


Synthesis Colourizer

Videos
1) Jason with the Synthesis

2) Josh Merrill with the Synthesis

(click picture to see video)

How Matt got into building
"When I started out flying stunt kites, I had imagined making my own kite, but I always thought it would be too difficult. Eventually, I realized it might be easier if I made a duplicate sail for my E2. With some outlines of the kite printed up, I sketched out different panel ideas while sitting at my sons baseball game. Thats where the idea for the spider web/organic graphic surfaced, but it wouldn't come up for air again for one or two years. After seeing the popularity of the Virus on the web and that people were having success building it, I thought maybe this would be a good kite to use for the Web graphic.

Once I started the building process for my Virus kite, my oldest son got excited about it and asked me to make one for him too. Then the five-year-old felt left out, so I let him paint his own sail so he could have one too. I had already purchased the material to build the original panel design, so I went ahead and did one of those as well.

Besides the Viruses, I was lucky enough to attend a stunt kite building workshop taught by Ken McNeill. His class about taping curved seams with a tape gun and his example of dedication to getting things exactly right was invaluable.

Eventually, after reading Ian Newhams website about kite design, I decided to try to design my own kite. Not wanting to start off on the wrong foot and waste a lot of fabric, I looked at the various kite sails I had. I thought about what characteristics they each had and decided to start with a flat sail leading edge angle somewhere between a very tricky and more precise one. The LE angle, once framed, could be varied widely with just as wide results so this was only a starting place. The rest was trial and error, adjusting to what looks good on the computer screen, and testing results for sail shape and trailing edge cut outs.

Ive always felt compelled to make things. To do it for someone else and experience their appreciation for your work gives me tremendous drive for creativity. Kites have been a great outlet for my passion to design and build."