FEATURE | Push the Sky: Gravity Industries

Jun 10

Jun 10 FEATURE | Push the Sky: Gravity Industries

Martin Hoye

editorialeyec

FILM

EDITORIAL

Green jacket - meanswhile
White Zip Jacket - Snow Peak
Trouser - Snow Peak
Shoes - Merrell

Vest - A Cold Wall
Trousers - Stone Island
Shoes - Merrell
Body armour - Stylists Own
Balaclava - Stylists Own

Zip Jumper - Poliquant
Heat Resistant Jacket - Stylists Own

Long Jacket - Norse Projects
Black Hooded Jacket - Stone Island Shadow Projects
Trouser - Decente ALLTERRAIN
Shoes - Merrell
Leg Guards - Stylists Own
Vest - Helly Hansen
Bag - Snow Peak
Gloves - mechanix wear

Jacket - CP Company
Trouser - Arnar Mar Jonsson
Shoes - Merrell

Hooded Cream Jacket - Arnar Mar Jonsson
Hooded White Zip Jacket - Arnar Mar Jonsson
Red Jacket - merely made
Shorts - Polinquant
Leggings - Snow Peak
Shoes - Merrell

INTERVIEW: Sam Rogers / GRAVITY INDUSTRIES

Zip Jumper - Poliquant
Heat Resistant Jacket - Stylists Own
Jumpsuit - meanswhile

To any one with a vague interest in the world of sci-fi and how these films depict our future, you can’t go far without noticing how flight or travel via the air is interpreted in these future based realities. Be it the modern Iron man films or Boba Fett’s early Starwars appearances in the early 1980’s, you can’t deny the idea of a jet pack or the ability to fly without a plane or craft has an enduring appeal. So I first saw Richard Browning’s “Gravity” concept a couple of years back, the visceral reaction to what I was witnessing was rooted in my boyhood appreciation of those aforementioned films. Man flying without a craft or tether, using arms to direct thrust and manoeuvre freely across land and sea… This was the stuff dreams are made of… that future I spoke of is here, that future is Gravity Industries.

1. Hi Sam, firstly thanks for commitment to this editorial project. I know how busy you guys are. As someone who has been fascinated with the Gravity Project via Richard's early feeds and now seeing how the team has grown and now become a bigger entity. Where did you first see Richard's work and can you tell us a little about how you ended up working together?

I was working on 3D printed copper rocket engines for a while, flying to the US and Europe to help out with test firings. Learning how to design for 3D printing was key, it allows you to build incredibly functional designs far easier than conventional manufacture methods.

While at a 3D printing company in Germany, I spotted Richard Browning (founder and pioneer of Gravity) through a doorway. He’d been invited there to see if the 3D printing company could assist in designing the suit as part of a marketing campaign. My company started walking away, and I asked if we could go in and say hello. I barged my way to the front, greeted by warm wofts of Jet-A1 kerosene and a beautifully service-hardened Jet Suit arm mounts on the table. We chatted for a while enthusiastically, then I left having exchanged details.

Two weeks later I was down in Salisbury helping out Richard with some testing. I quickly became involved, leading most of the design of the now 3D printed suit. The pack was riveted together from aluminium at the time, a brilliant way to rapidly test first prototypes. Since the printers were large enough, I’d suggested we 3D print the entire suit in polymer. We came up with some fancy methods of air cooling the 3D printed plastic, and this enabled us to iterate the Jet Suit rapidly, making mods to each design and having them printed, plus you can design it to look far more sci-fi.

A few years later and now the team and I have flown at Paramedic, Search & Rescue, military conferences and TV events worldwide. It’s been a fantastic learning journey.

2. What would you say has been the biggest area of development for the Gravity project in the last few years?

Turning the suit from prototype to product, from wires hanging out to everything in its place, from unreliable to dependable, from battered aluminium prototypes to a beautiful 3D printed shell.

The aim is to make the Jet Suit so robust and reliable that it can operate in extreme conditions anywhere, and be so durable you could jump up and down on it, run it over, insult its mother and it would still be dependably raring to go.

We’ve also built an electric version of the suit that flies for a short time when compared to our normal Jet Suit. This represents the best of what modern batteries are capable of when applied to the Jet Suit concept.

Cap - meanswhile
Zip Through Jacket - Helly Hansen
Inflatable Jacket - Polinquant
Bag - Stylists Own
Wrist Guards - meanswhile
Camo Pant - McQ

3. For many, a huge part of what I would call the human spirit has always been fascinated with pushing beyond the boundaries of what we can achieve in terms of exploring or how we can push our bodies to be able to do more. Flight being I guess a major area of focus as we are not able to fly unaided in some way, whether thats wing suits, free fall or in your case actual controlled flight. Why do you think mankind has this drive to push beyond the norm here? Is it being inspired but heroic figures of the past or just a simple fascination with watch birds and saying… I need to do that. Which is what I guess the Wright brothers must have thought?

When flying you are suddenly able to glide effortlessly over any terrain below. Traditionally, traversing grass, then across a river, then a boulder field, then a desert would all require different vehicles. When flying, even if you’re only a few meters above the ground, you simply glide across them all in a single vehicle, so feels pretty freeing.

It’s particularly special when you’re not controlling a craft through a control joystick or levers, just instinctive movements of the human body augmented with thrust allowing you to intuitively and dynamically fly from point to point.

4. You mentioned your grand parents on both sides had certain influence on you, one being a WW2 RAF Lancaster Bomber navigator and the other building rockets and fireworks with you as a kid. Instilling basics from an aeronautic and scientific perspective which no doubt came in handy down the with your current work. Can you tells us a bit more about those early years of experimenting and how they brought you to the Gravity project?

I grew up building model rocket motors, radio control planes and making films. My maternal grandfather taught me to make gunpowder when I was 7, and my paternal grandfather was the navigator of a Lancaster bomber in WWII. I built ever larger rockets and captured the builds, breaks, explosions and successes on film. Many burnt fingers later I had all this material to present to uni and job offers - which proved far more effective than my CV.

5. When you see the capabilities of the Jet suits you guys have built, you instantly see the realms of possibilities and uses for such equipment. From Life Saving aid being administered quickly to lost climbers on a mountain, or for navy surgeons being able to hop from ship to ship within the fleet to administer treatment, to becoming an extreme sport similar to the red bull air races etc. What aspects of the future excite you the most about the possibilities for these suits?

I get most excited by cinema and the theatrical presentation of what the future could look like, and the adventure that are enabled by incredible tech and inventions.

I’d love to see movies made with people using the Jet Suit. Imagine it filmed like Top Gun, or flying down the Thames in a Bond film, all flown for real.

6. The interlinks with the film world are obvious to me, from Bond’s crude early jet pack to the likes of Iron Man and Boba Fett. Are there any films in particular that hold that inspiration to you both as a kid and now?

Back to the Future, hence I flew recently with the hoverboard Velcro’d to my feet alongside a real Back to the Future DeLorean down a runway at sunset. The final shot looked fantastic (it’s on my YouTube channel - Sam Rogers).

Also Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Caractacus Potts miraculous inventions including strapping rockets to himself. I dressed as Caractacus for a school book day.

Mythbusters, Adam Savage & Jamie Hyneman. This was a core inspiration in having fun and adventures with science and tech. Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, my grandparents showed me lots of old films! Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear, I also dressed up as him.

7. How was it flying in all the product you were being styled in from a practical perspective? Were there any pieces you thought, actually this could be quite good to use more regularly for flight?

Being styled by you guys was fantastic fun, I’ve never done anything like this before and this is likely the most fashionable I’ve ever been. it was so brilliant seeing the shots come out looking so moody.

Great to see the teams reactions to the flights too, we got some fantastic looking flamey engine spool up footage. I particularly liked the look of the hooded white look, and the Top Gun style fighter jacket. When we do a jet Suit race series we’ll have to get you to style our racers so they stand out. Loved it, thank you and the team.

8. 3D printing with metal seems to have become a massive part of the design process and development of the suits. Where to do your see this developing in the future?
Not many people know you can 3D print in metal. It’s fantastic, you can make incredibly lightweight and complex organic alien-like structures in a single part, which would normally take ages to machine from a solid hunk of metal.

9. Do you have any personal ambitions for yourself within the realms of the gravity project? Anything you want to achieve alongside Richard?

I’d love to make a show like Mythbusters leveraging modern technology and taking it on adventures that inspires people into science, engineering, and filmmaking.

10. Where do you expect to see the Gravity team and project in 10 years?

Racing, specialists flying the suits for medical and mobility in all sorts of situations, and in films. I hope we create a truly productised suit thats easy to use, as robust as a car tyre, and looks like it was designed by the prop department of a Hollywood movie.

Mainly I hope to be working alongside sour brilliant ever-expanding team, who keep smiling even when everything’s going wrong, then solving the problems, then succeeding with a story to tell.

Credits

Stills

Pilot: Sam Rogers - @jettisam @takeongravity
Photographer: Tom Weatherill @tom.weatherill
Stylist: Jordan Schneider @jordandeanschneider

Gaffer: Harry Hawkes @hawk_i
Grip: Tom Skinner @tom_skinner_
Spark: Seb McCluskey @sebastian_mccluskey
Digi Op: Freddy Lee @fredriklee
Stylist Assistant: Jon Wallner @jonwalllner
Retouch: @recomfarmhouse

FILM

Pilot: Sam Rogers - @jettisam @takeongravity

Director: Sam Davis @sameuandavis
Creative Director: Tom Weatherill @tom.weatherill
Art Director: Jordan Schneider @jordandeanschneider
Director of Photography: Yannick Hausler @yannickhausler

Music: Calum Lee AKA @fresnel__lens/@palemanuk
Sync/licensing: Syncsmith @syncsmith

Directors rep: Dadbod Films @dadbod_films
Editor: Joe Walton @ Whitehouse Post @whitehousepost
Colourist: Connor Coolbear @ ETC @cjcoolbear at @etc.colour
Sound Design: Ben Brannan @benbrannanaudio

Gaffer: Harry Hawkes @hawk_i
Grip: Tom Skinner @tom_skinner_
Spark: Seb McCluskey @sebastian_mccluskey
DIT: Freddy Lee @fredriklee
Stylist Assistant: Jon Wallner @jonwalllner

Thanks to:
Dadbod Films @dadbod_films
Electric Theatre Collective @electric.theatre.collective
Ben Brannan audio @benbrannanaudio
Martin Hoye @mhooye
Graeme Gaughan @graemegaughan
Gravity Industries @takeongravity

Interview

Text: Graeme Gaughan @graemegaughan