Holm Struck

Holm Struck

Bliedersdorf, Germany

Holm is an active participant in contemporary German kite making and kite flying. He has organized and led some historical kitemaking workshops.  Holm has been in kiting since the early 80s.  At that time he saw a little boy on the beach and he thought "this could be a nice hobby."   First he flew just kites he bought in shops - like Peter Powel's stunt kites.

At the end of the 80´s he got some fabric from a local sail maker - white and purple. He cut out the pattern for a simple delta kite. He wasn't able to sew, so Holm convinced his brother-in-law to do it for him. 

In 1992 Holm attended his first year at Fanø Kite Festival. “-WOW!!!!!   There I saw what all is possible in kites. My real kite life began.”

Since 1992 Holm has attendd kite festivals in Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Great Britain and France, and started teaching kitemaking for stunt kites and single line kites.  

Also Holm been able to take classes from these great kitemakers: Jose Sainz (1995), Randy Tom, Willi Koch (1997), Martin Lester (1999),

Robert Trepanier (2000), Robert Brasington (2003/2005/2013), John Freeman (2007), Cliff Quinn (2009/2011), Barry Crites (2011), Cliff Pennell (2013). Additionally he attended 15 of 17 classes from the Historical Kite Workshop sponsored by the Drachen Foundation.

From 2002 to 2004 Holm Struck was part of the jury for the German Kitemaking Championships.

All this (and more) demonstrates Holm's passion for kites. The most recent years teaching kite classes have become his favorite, but for Holm, the reason isn't the teaching -- it is more about sharing skills and at least one new way of doing things. 

Previous classes:  It started with small private classes for friends and grew to official kitemaking events like Fort Worden Kitemakers Conference, Oregon Kitemakers Retreat (OKR), Midwest Area Kitemakers Retreat (MAKR) and  2015 Upper Midwest Area Kitemaking Event (U-MAKE).

He has taught classes in Germany, Denmark, Great Britain and the United States for historical kites made by cotton and wood, classes with modern material like spinnaker fabric and carbon rods, and classes for kids with tyvek fabric painted with crayons.