The Story of Flyte

Ever since the movie Back to the Future II, skateboarder turned scientist Simon Morris dreamed of a world of hoverboards. He started to learn the art of levitation and transformed his childhood fantasies into a creative profession, sparking a levitation trend around the world.

Simon is the creator of the first levitating lightbulb. Today, Flyte has grown from a small passion project into an award-winning design company who stand proudly behind a family of innovative and captivating products.

Here’s a story of how Flyte got off the ground and where it’s going next.

How it all started

Simon, born in the Bronx, New York, was always passionate about skateboarding. Often skaters are perceived as annoying elements that are in the way, so Simon always felt like a rebel, both against society and also against the law of gravity.

“As a kid, I was beguiled by levitation and how things float in the air. I guess I was just always fascinated by things that defy gravity.” This fascination of weightlessness made Simon start experimenting and exploring the world of electromagnetic levitation.

After studying Master’s at the University of Gothenburg, Simon began work on what he previously thought impossible: a hoverboard, albeit one that stood stationary. He continued experimenting and worked on custom projects, building levitation displays for various companies.The reaction of the public was encouraging — they were engrossed and taken aback by what they saw.

“Something happens when you let objects with odd shapes float in the air, you suddenly see them from new angles and get a completely new perception of their shape. It's hard to tear your eyes from it.”

Simon realized that this could be something bigger than just a hobby. He approached some potential investors, however, they were cautious and not so forthcoming. So he decided to take his ideas to people. And what's a better way to do that than crowdfunding?

Getting off the ground
with crowdfunding

In 2015, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund Simon's first invention - Flyte, which features a levitating light bulb floating in the air using magnetic levitation and wireless resonant inductive coupling. After the campaign's success there followed other projects, such as Lyfe (levitating planter), Story (levitating timepiece), etc.

In Flyte Light, we finally managed to unite the two geniuses, also the eternal enemies, Edison and Tesla. Edison had his lamp and Tesla his induction, but they never agreed. We changed that.

Simon Morris, Christopher Higham, Daniel Mascarenhas

Combining the
Art & Science

Morris' passion lies in the interaction between science and art. He is interested in how we observe the world and how things work - the technicalities, the scientific methods. He likes the word combination “art scientist” - because science doesn't have to be simply practical, you can use it for expressive reasons as well.

“A lot of technical people who are very knowledgeable in the sciences seem to lack another part, which is the design part, the user-friendliness. So to get a complete picture you have to think like Leonardo da Vinci, who was an artist, but also a scientist. It's very rare to find people that can bridge both worlds, and that's what inspires me a lot. “

Simon studied Computer Sciences, as well as Art and Creative Expression. He describes Flyte as a combination of science, poetry and something that's very easy to understand. “When people look at our products, they get it right away. So I feel happy at the end of the day if I can create something that looks very simple from the outside but has a complexity inside.”

Morris likes to play with boundaries. That's where his captivation of magnetism and electromagnets started. And he realized that science and physics can also be fun. “It's interesting, in science the bar has always been raised so high that kids don't really want to do it. They feel like they have to take themselves very seriously and become white lab coats and read the books and everything. But actually it can be so entertaining, you can just start doing stuff and learn along the way. A lot of scientific experiments, inventions and innovations have come out through fun, through experiments, through failure, through mistakes. Everyone has the same capacity to create, I really agree to the idea that knowledge and learning comes by doing. And it fwhen you complete a project that other people also get excited about. It makes you want to do more.”