James’s Story
1947Born in Norfolk in the north of England
1965-66ByamShawSchool of drawing and painting, Kensington, London
1966-70RoyalCollege of Art; furniture and interior design
Design commissions include:
- Peter Dominic wine shops with the Conran Design Group
- Sea Truck with inventor Jeremy Fry. Sales to over 50 countries. Wins Design Council Award and 1975 Duke of Edinburgh’s special prize
1970Joins Rotork in Bath to start and manage the new Marine Division. Sales to 40 different countries. Appointed director in 1973
1974Strikes out on his own to develop the Ballbarrow and the Waterolla, water-filled plastic garden roller
1978Invents the Trolleyball - a boat launcher with ball wheels
Discovers the common failing of all vacuum cleaners – the bag
1979Sells shares in the Ballbarrow for £10,000, uses the money to develop new vacuum cleaner technology
1979-84Five years, 5000 prototypes results in Dyson Dual Cyclone™ technology
1982-84Trawls the UK and Europe, looking for someone to license the product. The multinationals are reluctant to invest in the Dyson as it would terminate the bag replacement market, worth £100 million a year in the UK alone.
Licenses idea to a US company. The licence is terminated later that year
1985Begins to work alongside a company in Japan, which also imports Filofax
1986The Japanese start to sell the first Dyson-designed vacuum cleaner, a post-modern pink machine, the G-Force. Becomes a status symbol, selling for $2000
1987The G-Force becomes a design classic, winning international awards.
Commences lawsuit in the USA against a previous licensee for alleged patent infringement
1992US lawsuit settled.
Royalties enable James to set up Dyson Research and Development centre and factory in Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK
May 93DCO1, the first Dyson vacuum cleaner, sells in the UK, retailing at £200. Best-selling vacuum cleaner in the UK within 2 years
Jan. 97Sends a petition to the European Court of Human Rights, appealing against the mandatory and exorbitant charges of patent renewal fees in the hope that the practice will be changed
June 97Becomes a trustee of the DesignMuseum, London, UK
July 97Elected Philanthropist of the Year for his work through the Dyson Antarctica Solo project for Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Nov. 97James funds Dyson Centre for Design Education and Training at the DesignMuseum, London, UK
Jan. 98Awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours list by The Queen
July 98Presents the James Dyson Product Design Award at New Designers – an annual exhibition of product design final year degree projects
Jan. 99Appointed Chairman of the DesignMuseum in London, following Sir Terence Conran, founder of the museum, who had held the position since 1992. (James Dyson chairman 1999-2004)
2000 James awarded Designer of the Decade Award.
Aug 2002 James introduces Dyson vacuum cleaners in the U.S., the world’s
biggest vacuum cleaner market
Aug 2002James becomes member of IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of
America)
May 2003James Dyson and Jim Honey design a garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It wins a gold medal
May 2004James Dyson is awarded Giant Of Design (G.O.D) at Annual House Beautiful Awards, USA
Sept. 2004James Dyson resigns as chairman of the Design Museum, UK – following concerns that focus has become styling rather than product design.
Key speeches
June 2003MOMA annual design lecture series, San Francisco
Jan 2004IDSA conference, Los Angeles
Dec 2004James Dyson is the first engineer
to give the prestigious Dimbleby Lecture, “Engineering the Difference”, for the BBC in 2004 (UK)
Company news
Feb 1996Dyson’s Research and Development centre was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles)
Dec. 99Dyson RDD team announces it is working on a robotic vacuum cleaner
Dec. 2001Dyson’s Research and Development centre was visited by Her Majesty The Queen
March 2003 Ten years since the launch of the first vacuum cleaner that doesn’t lose suction – and Dyson’s sales reach 10 million worldwide
April 2002Announces transfer of floorcare production to Malaysia, enabling Dyson to invest heavily in research and development
May 2004 Dyson is the fastest growing vacuum cleaner in the USA and out-sells Hoover by value
Publishing
May 1996‘Doing a Dyson’ – James Dyson offers advice on how to invent new technology, manufacture and market it yourself. The construction of the book cover was designed by Dyson’s RDD Department
May 97Autobiography 'Against the Odds' is published (also published in
French, German and Japanese)
1999Publication of ‘20th Century Design Icons selected by James Dyson’
June 2000The Daily Telegraph newspaper (UK national broadsheet) publishes “James Dyson’s History of Great Inventions” – a six part series in the Weekend Telegraph
Sept. 2001“James Dyson’s History of Great Inventions” book launched in the UK
April 2005ContemporaryDesign icons book –a selection of James’s favourite designs (republished)
Honorary University of Bath
DoctoratesUniversity of Staffordshire
OxfordBrookesUniversity
HuddersfieldUniversityBusinessSchool
LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity
ImperialCollege
BradfordUniversity
University of West of England
University of Middlesex
University of Brunel
BathSpaUniversity
RoyalCollege of Art
Positions heldPatron of Design and Technology Show
Council Member of the RoyalCollege of Art
Member of the Design Council
Former Chairman of the DesignMuseum in London (1999-2004)
Trustee of the Roundhouse Theatre, London
Commissioner for the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
Patron of the National Association of Inspectors and Advisers in Design and Technology
Member of the University Court, University of Bath
Director of ImperialCollege, London
Member of the board, Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (MAK) Vienna, Austria
Member of Industrial Design Society of America