LIFESTYLE

SKYHIGHHow an international kite and toy manufacturer came to have its American headquarters based in Powells Point BY STEVE HANF

Chris Shultz still remembers the first time he flew a kite on the Outer Banks. On a visit from Ohio to see his aunt and uncle, he got a cheap plastic Gayla kite called “the bat” from Kite Kingdom at the old Sea Holly Square in Kill Devil Hills. That kite is long gone, but remarkably, Chris still has the nice wooden spool his family splurged on at the time.

Chris also still remembers the first time he flew a kite on Jockey’s Ridge as part of a summer job with Kitty Hawk Kites. His friend from Manteo High School handed him a stunt kite, the infamous Outer Banks winds did their thing – and Chris was pulled face-first into the sand.

That summer job is long gone, but just as remarkably, Chris still has a career in the kite industry more than 30 years later.

“One thing I know about people who fly kites is they can be reserved – I wasn’t a super outgoing guy – but I liked flying kites and the attention it drew,” Chris says. “Kites can do that. They can be very expressive depending on what you’re flying or how you’re flying it.” Decades later, Chris now helps put kites of all shapes and sizes, plus a whole lot more, into people’s hands throughout North and South America. He serves as vice president of HQ Kites & Designs USA, which is a significant sales and distribution subsidiary of Invento GmbH, a German-based company that specializes in kites, lawn spinners and outdoor accessories, plus a variety of toys.

But for all their international reach, the global company is proud to have a permanent state-side address in Currituck County.

Products initially get delivered to a relatively nondescript warehouse space in Powells Point, off the beaten path of Caratoke Highway not far from the water park, then packaged and shipped for distribution to numerous retail stores.

The journey from concept to production to sales that stretches from Germany to Asia to Currituck seems about as meandering as a kite dancing in the wind – and Chris’s own unlikely path. In addition to young childhood memories, he mostly recalls getting hooked on kites during his first three summers working at Kitty Hawk Kites, when he regularly traveled from East Carolina University to be part of a daily spectacle on Jockey’s Ridge.

To his delight, Chris literally got paid to fly kites those summers. The job offered minimum wage and maximum fulfillment.

“People drive by, and it’s like you’ve got this big billboard of kites,” Chris explains. “But we were just showing people how fun this stuff is.”

Chris went on to manage the Nags Head store and eventually became a kite buyer, where he learned even more about the industry and made contacts with other companies. It was a uniquely specialized background that allowed him to get a job with a kite supplier, which introduced him to the wholesale side of things. That sent Chris to Washington and then Austin for a time until HQ Kites brought him on board.

The owners of HQ – which stands for high quality – started their business in Germany in 1993 when they couldn’t find the types of performance kites they wanted to sell in their retail store. But greater demand soon grew, and HQ was born, with their American subsidiary opening in upstate New York before moving to Chesapeake.

For one Germanbased international company, the Outer

Banks is the ideal spot to showcase – and experience – the power behind a variety of their highperformance kites. Photos courtesy of

Chris Shultz.

Then, when HQ’s five-year lease was coming due in Chesapeake, Chris had an idea: Would anybody mind if he looked for a new warehouse space near the

Outer Banks? In December of 2009, HQ Kites settled into its new home in Powells Point: twice as much space, better facilities for shipping, same price as the old lease – and a whole lot closer to home. For Chris, that is.

“We’re closer to Kitty Hawk Kites, which is a big customer of ours, but we’re also in an area where we can truly showcase a lot of the products that we build,” Chris says. “And the quality of life down here is good, so the location is perfect.”

Flip through the company’s catalogs and you can see why the Outer Banks is such a great fit for the business. Shot after shot includes happy kite flyers underneath picturesque blue skies at Jockey’s Ridge – imagery that’s comparatively hard to capture in Germany. Big kiteboarding groups will even rent several houses and demo some of HQ’s gear at Kite Point on Hatteras Island. And just about any time there’s a large kiting event, HQ is there alongside a variety of other local vendors. While “kites” is prominently featured in the company name, Invento also offers an everexpanding catalog of intricate toy models made of wood or metal with moving parts, remote-control vehicles, even high-end models of the solar system Chris Shultz tests a kite in that get sold at museum gift shops and in mail-order Jamaica. catalogs. Despite his background in kites, Shultz has found himself heading to toy trade shows from New York City to Nuremberg, always looking for that next interesting item that takes his imagination to new heights.

But, above all, Chris continues to have a special place in his heart for all things kites – and he’s currently on a kiteboarding kick. He’s been to the Vegas desert and ridden three-wheeled carts at 50 miles per hour as they’re pulled by kite sails. And he loves flying single-line kites in unique places, like from the stern of a high-speed boat.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have done pretty much everything,” Chris says of his career in kites. “And I think it’s the romance of flight and all that people are mesmerized by. It’s just like eye candy.”