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There’s a new kid on the block… Germany-based brand AOUA. We chatted to founder Jan Alexander Rudolph about how the brand started, what makes them stand out from existing brands, and how their current range is looking.
Thanks for chatting to us Jan. Tell us how the AOUA journey started.
I got into designing kites in my early 20s, about 12 years ago. I was already addicted to our sport and after starting my mechanical engineering studies at the Technical University Berlin, fluid dynamics and design engineering soon became my absolute favorite fields. Then I saw the chance to combine all of this. I convinced my professors to let me get into kite design, which was very unusual. During my studies, a factory owner, whom I highly respect, gave me the opportunity to spend time in his factory in Sri Lanka, where the highest quality kites are produced. There I could learn all practical aspects of kite manufacturing. In that factory, our kites are still made today, alongside North, Eleveight and Core Kites.
The most important part of my research project was finding a better methodology for designing kites than using “Surfplan”. This is software that almost all kites on the market are made with – it doesn’t require engineering skills, but limits your outcome and possibilities in many aspects. Our own method is the basis for our innovative seam reduction. It also gives us the possibility to work on completely new concept kites that we have been working on for years.
What else makes AOUA unique in an industry that has been going for over two decades already?
The answer to this question is also the reason why I decided to start the company. Looking at what existed on the market, I could find very little I could identify with. To me, kiting was always about adventure, freedom, and most important: it brings together people who wouldn’t have met through a common taste in music or shared political opinion. We try to represent something else: highest quality and innovative products for everyone at a reasonable price.
We define ourselves as an engineering company, not a marketing brand. We focus on research and development and limit our spending on marketing to the necessary, to convince with better products for a better price. In 2025, the vast majority of our small team has an engineering background. This is how we can develop innovations like our seam reduction on kites or our game-changing Carbon Pro Bar.
On all our products, our clients find little extras that are supposed to make their life easier: our multi-functional kitebags, for example, include adapter lines in the repair set. With these, we invite you to fly our kites with the bars of other manufacturers. Our bar lines end in both loops and knots, so you can use the bar with most kites on the market. Our worldwide express shipment service of spare parts is there to send you, for example, a whole new bladder to the end of the world within days. If you call us, someone answers the phone and helps with advice.
Tell us about the seam reduction you’ve implemented on your kites.
Not all three-dimensional objects can be unfolded (to a two-dimensional piece of cutting pattern). This is especially problematic if the object has a curvature around two axes. A football (as an extreme example) can’t be sewn from only one piece of cloth, while a kite’s strut can form slight wrinkles in the cloth if you sew it from only two pieces of cloth. We however can calculate the strut’s cutting pattern in a way that we can sew the struts from only two pieces of cloth without generating wrinkles. Furthermore, we don’t cut the kite unnecessarily into smaller pieces for the visual design. From an engineering point of view, cutting the kite apart just to include the brand’s logo in a different color is a bad idea. Thanks to our single-seam struts and a visual design that doesn’t require any unnecessary seams we can reduce the seams up to two-thirds. This improves drag, precision (every piece of cloth comes with a tolerance), weight, and of course durability.
At the moment you have one kite model, the Panta, in its second iteration. What disciplines IS IT designed for?
The Panta is a Big Air weapon, optimized for jumps with stunning airtime. Here you can feel the seam reduction straight away! In our team, besides our passion for the flying part of kitesurfing, we love to switch to a wave board or hydrofoil at times. Therefore, we have included an adjustment option on the leading edge, to switch the kite to “wave” mode. The steering lines have an additional fourth attachment point. Together this means that you can switch your Panta between eight different setups in a few minutes. It really is a kite you can do anything with.
You also have a new model coming to market soon. How will this differ to the Panta?
The Rhei will be released in September. The Panta is extremely durable with plenty of reinforcements and has five struts. The Rhei focuses on being lightweight and has only three struts. The Panta’s leading edge is medium to rather thick, providing lift and unbeaten airtime. The Rhei’s leading edge is very thin, which makes it extremely fast and agile for kiteloops and wave and foil use. The light weight will make it stay in the air in the lowest winds.
You claim you’ve developed the lightest control bar on the market. How have you achieved this and what else makes you proud about it?
Yes, we believe our Carbon Pro Bar and Full Carbon Bar are the lightest control bars with click-in and auto-swivel on the market (790g & 850g). At the same time they are the first fully modular kite bars – you can exchange the carbon rods with the EVA (or cork) grip in a few minutes, when they get worn. We’ve achieved the weight record by making use of carbon and CNC-milled aluminum parts. We had a close look at every component to see how big it really needs to be. The German Liros SK99 lines are the best you can get and they untwist immediately when you spin out the bar. Most solutions don’t do so before pulling down the bar – when you pay close attention, you will notice.
After two years of figuring out a suitable manufacturing process, with the Full Carbon Bar we found a way to make the bar itself completely from carbon (not just the rods). Here, the center piece is also made from carbon, while still featuring the split for the auto-swivel. The whole feeling when riding is extremely smooth due to the weight, and a nice bonus: broken ribs when falling on the bar are less likely.
You are researching a new bar system. Can you give us any hints about this project?
There will be some big surprises coming up in the next years. We are working on it with the Technical University of Berlin. I can’t say more at this point, but we’d be happy to do so in TheKiteMag, when the time comes!
Tell us about your twintip, the Paz. What makes it different to other twintips on the market?
The extremely deep channels provide incredible pop. The channels are curved and not straight like normal, and help you pop straight into the wind. The very low weight (2.3kg) gives you a featherlight feeling during your next trick. Full carbon boards are mostly too stiff for our taste, so we count on a good flex provided by a Paulownia wood core. It is manufactured in Europe.
We loved hearing about your connection with Colombia. Please tell our readers all about this.
For six years I’ve lived on the Colombian coast from January to May. Here I can count on having the same strong wind every single day to test and trim our products. Close by, we have our secret spots, where we can test unpublished innovations away from the public. Also, we started a social project – our clients can trade in their old kites and get a discount of up to 600 euros on a new kite from us. We gift these kites to local kids that we’ve known for years, that could never afford one, and make a dream come true. We have also started with free English classes with kite vocabulary for them.
Finally, where can our readers try your gear if they’d like to have a go?
During the summer season in Europe, we have several test crews driving around on windy weekends. In our Instagram stories at @aoua.kites we update you on where to find them. You can visit aouakites.com/try-buy to see the bigger events that we participate in and also some of the kite schools that work with our products. We recommend signing up for our newsletter, so we can invite you to our upcoming events and send you exclusive deals. ■
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