Comenzó como una pequeña empresa en un garaje, pero Bruce Goldsmith Design es ahora un fabricante líder de parapentes de calidad y equipos relacionados con el parapente. Inspirado e impulsado por Bruce, el departamento de I+D tiene su sede en el sur de Francia, donde el sol siempre brilla; la distribución está en Austria y la fábrica, en Sri Lanka.
La familia BGD es fuerte y todos estamos conectados por nuestro amor al parapente. Nuestra misión es compartir nuestro deporte con amigos y familiares. Nos encanta la sensación de estar conectados al aire, y nuestros productos se diseñan con eso en mente. Fabricamos productos seguros, divertidos y frescos que siempre se entregan con el mando refinado y las cualidades innovadoras por las que los diseños de Bruce se han hecho famosos.
BGD lleva el nombre de Bruce, Director General y jefe del equipo de desarrollo. Volar está en el ADN de Bruce. Aprendió ala delta cuando era estudiante de ingeniería en el Imperial College de Londres, en la década de 1980, y rápidamente alcanzó la cima del ala delta británico, ganando la Superliga en 1991. Estuvo en el equipo de ala delta británico durante una década a partir de 1986 y fue dos veces campeón británico de ala delta. Desde 1989 también estuvo en el equipo de parapente británico, convirtiéndose en campeón británico de parapente tres veces y clasificándose como piloto Nº1 del ránking mundial WPRS y campeón del mundo en 2007.
Bruce, nacido en Londres, ahora vive en el sur de Francia con su esposa Arna y sus tres hijos. Miembro fundador de Airwave Paragliders y Ozone, diseñó para Advance durante dos años antes de fundar BGD en 2012. Escritor, orador y educador, Bruce tiene una columna regular en la revista Cross Country y es presidente de la APPI (Asociación de Pilotos de Parapente e Instructores).
Arna fue la primera mujer islandesa en volar en parapente cuando comenzó, a la edad de 17 años, seducida por su padre aladeltista. Él le compró una Wills Wing Harrier, ¡y fue amor a primera vista! Arna compitió en varias Copas Celtas en Irlanda y Gales, codéandose con estrellas de la Liga Británica, pero no conoció a Bruce hasta un encuentro casual en un estacionamiento en el sur de Francia, en 1997.
Cuando el piloto de pruebas de Bruce se estrelló y destruyó la nueva ala de competición de Arna, una Airwave Magic, él le prestó el parapente con el cual comenzaría su carrera de parapentista. Arna y Bruce se casaron en 1997 y Arna voló mucho, acompañando a Bruce hasta a 14 competiciones al año. El vuelo pasó a segundo plano durante unos años mientras ella se concentraba en la familia, pero ahora que los niños han crecido está de vuelta en los cielos a donde pertenece, en una Magic.
La carrera de vuelo de Christoph fue impulsada en parte por su novia de la época, en 2002. Aprendió a volar en parapente cerca de su casa en Wolfsberg, Austria, e instantáneamente se enamoró del deporte, volando su parapente Airwave en grandes vuelos de cross y rompiendo la marca de los 100km por un gran margen. Luego pasó a competir en la Liga A de Austria. Ingeniero de oficio, su vida laboral lo involucró en algunos grandes proyectos de construcción, entre ellos la construcción de puentes en Austria y Serbia para PORR, una de las empresas de construcción más grandes de Austria.
En 2012, el atractivo de una vida diferente lo llamó, abandonó el mundo de la construcción y se unió a Bruce y Arna en un proyecto nuevo y emocionante: fundar BGD. Christoph sigue viviendo en Wolfsberg, con su esposa Mila y su hijo Maximillian, donde administra la distribución europea de BGD desde la oficina y centro de distribución de Austria.
Tom started paragliding at the age of 14 in Saint Hilaire du Touvet. At 15 he bought a sewing machine and started designing his first kites and paragliders in his bedroom. His enthusiasm for paraglider aerodynamics and structures grew even more when he entered one of the top aerospace engineering schools in France, ISAE-Supaero in Toulouse. He started working for BGD in 2017, when he was entrusted with the development of a new simulation software that became operational in 2018.
The software is now an integral part of BGD’s R&D tools, and Tom and Bruce work closely together on the new designs. Alongside this work, Tom is pursuing academical work to better understand the physics of our flying machines. His PHD is the first to be dedicated to paragliding: “Fluid-structure interaction simulations of highly deformable sails.”
Blaise learned to fly in 2009 and soon after became involved in guiding and social media for PG/PPG brands. A former tree surgeon and windsurfing instructor he has always sought adventure. He works with RISE Paragliding in SIV and ACRO, and this role was instrumental in bringing about the EPIC FreeStyle. Blaise heads up BGD's sales team and looks after our UK sales.
Born and raised in Peru but now based in the Austrian Alps, Alex is on a lifelong quest to discover and master all types of flying, from coastal soaring, to acro, hike and fly, and most recently, the Paragliding World Cup. An avid outdoor sportsman, he now manages BGD Sales in Austria where his colourful personality is a match for the most colourful brand out there!
Anna was born and raised in the Caucasus mountains. She started paragliding in 2007 and was instantly hooked. She is an interior designer by trade. . Anna is traveling all over the world with her paraglider. She is a highly skilled media creator.
Masta, born Francesco Delpiano, was infected with the paragliding virus in 2012 during a trip to Nepal. In 2018, thanks to his friend Malcom Deodati, he started flying under the colours of BGD. He lives with his partner Alessia and his son Theo in the north west of the Alps, works as a show technician and keeps an eye on sales for BGD. If he doesn't answer the phone he is probably smiling under the clouds or on a mountain take-off somewhere!
Half Swedish, Half Iranian grew up in Sweden and lived in many places. Navid Saleki has a mechanical/business engineering background and has been passionate of extreme sports since he started learning riding a bicycle. After reaching the top in freestyle BMX riding he turned to the sky. After skydiving and paragliding he is all about paramotoring. Navid is rooted in the paramotor and paratrike world.
Valentin has been flying since the age of 21, first on planes, then moving to paragliders, drawn to it by the simplicity of an aircraft in a bag you can hike with. He loves flying vol-biv with friends, or combining it with skiing or biking – he is an avid cyclist. He studied geomorphology and is cares deeply about our environment.
Coming from a family of pioneering pilots in Brazil, Flying is part of Raphael's DNA. He has been flying paragliders and paramotors since 2008 and works as an instructor and tandem pilot in Sri Lanka and Europe. He is passionate about XC across Brazil and paramotoring over the Amazon. Raphael knows our paramotor range well and is our international paramotor sales guy.
David CHAUMET works with R&D, and runs a service center. He has been flying sailplanes, paragliders, hang gliders, and UL aircraft since 1989 and was part of the French hangliding and paragliding team from 2002 to 2008 winning several world championship podiums in class 5 hang gliders! He's specialized in composite materials and electrical engines for aeronautical applications. Check out his electric Swift and electric paraglider.
Mario lives, breaths, and dreams paragliding. He is always smiling and strives to share his passion with everyone. Mario lives and works mostly from home in Nesselwang, Germany.
Another medical man, orthopaedic technician and prosthetics-maker Bene was infected with the flying bug at the age of 16. Powered paragliding is the bug that has bitten the hardest, and Bene is an international competitor in classic and endurance paramotoring. He is also a PPG test pilot and has headed up BGD’s motor division since 2013.
By age 16 Ant’s passion for adventure led him to paragliding. He has flown competitively since 2004 in acrobatics and cross country. Studying film, business and math he has been with BGD since the start bringing all the wild colors to the products. Ant is currently our graphic and in-house film guy and lives and works in Morzine, France.
Charlie’s first paragliding flight was back in 1994, a 21st birthday gift that has lasted 30 years and counting. She now flies an Echo 2, a far cry from the parachute used on that first tow launch in rural England. She lives with her family in southern France and is a daytime desk jockey who works on BGD’s newsletters, manuals and brochures.
Paramotor World Champion Pasquale Biondo has been passionate about flying since playing with his father's wing at the age of 13. He pursued a degree in aerospace engineering before starting out in paramotor competitions. He has been Italian Paramotor Champion multiple times, and in 2022 was crowned Paramotor World Champion. He is part of the R&D team, helping to develop and improve the PPG range.
Killian is our in-house harness designer. He has been flying since the age of 15, encouraged by his father. He also has a younger brother who started flying at the age of 13 – you could say it's a family passion! He studied Industrial Engineering in Grenoble, specialising in materials strength and worked with the R&D team in the summer of 2022. He joined the R&D team full-time in 2023.
Kyle started flying from his back yard with his father and paramotoring quickly took over his life. He is a paramotoring instructor in Florida, and works with BGD's R&D team in the development of paramotor wings. He also heads up the BGD team pilots on the paramotor side.
Lucas started paragliding when he was 15 years old. He is studying aerodynamics at ENAC, the Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (National Civil Aviation School) in Toulouse, to be an aerodynamic engineer or researcher. He's interested in all aircraft and how they fly, and works for BGD in research and development.
Bruce and Arna's eldest son, Tyr was born into paragliding and has flourished. He has already won numerous paragliding competitions (Us Nationals, Rio Cup, Weightless, etc.) and loves everything related to the air. He is a test pilot and works on glider graphic design for BGD.
Mila lives in Wolfsberg, with her husband Christoph and son Maximillian, where she helps manage the Austrian office and distribution centre.
Maria works in the accounts department in the Austrian office. A mother of two, she loves to travel, and enjoys skiing, snowboarding and tennis in her spare time.
Irena lives in Slovenia, near the Austrian border, and looks after stock and shipping at BGD’s warehouse in Austria. Before moving to BGD she was a wood technology engineer for 25 years. She loves the great outdoors and beautiful landscapes, but she feels most connected to nature through her sports – paragliding, mountaineering, skiing, cycling and surfing.
Nikola has a short history of flying, but a passion for writing long lines of code. An in-house developer, he is responsible for the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, making sure every part of the process runs smoothly and error-free. He lives with his wife and his two lovely children next to the oldest lake in Europe, Ohrid. He loves playing guitar and traveling.
Kay is a paraglider pilot who is enthusiastic about hike & fly, and a kiteboarder who likes to go far in the sea. He has been a computer programmer since 1994. He lives in Fethiye close to the famous paragliding site of Ölüdeniz, and is here to boost the BGD IT infrastructure.
Franck learnt to fly after a bet with his brother in 2019 and immediately fell in love with the sport. He is a trail runner, father, and general outdoor enthusiast. He has already flown several nice triangles around his home site of Aix-les-Bains and plans to break the site distance record. He is a specialist in outdoor sports marketing strategy and helps BGD with branding, social media, and marketing.