The character arc of James Dyson
Born 2 May 1947 in Cromer, Norfolk. Between then and now sit a father lost when James was nine, an art and design training that turned into engineering, an early product called the Ballbarrow, about five years and 5,127 prototypes of a bagless vacuum with 5,126 of them failures, a string of manufacturers who said no, a first success in Japan, and a company built at home. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is James Dyson?
The failures were the whole method.
His father died of cancer when James was nine, and the school where his father had taught carried him on a bursary. He trained at the Royal College of Art, in furniture and interior design first and then engineering, and made an early product of his own, the Ballbarrow, a wheelbarrow that rolled on a ball. Then, frustrated by a vacuum that clogged and lost suction, he set out in the late 1970s to build one that would not.
What followed is the part he tells most often. Over about five years he built 5,127 prototypes, and 5,126 of them failed. The established manufacturers turned the finished idea down, in part because they made their money selling replacement bags, so he launched first in Japan by catalogue in 1983, then founded his own company in 1991 and put the DC01 in front of Britain in 1993. Within eighteen months it was the best selling cleaner in the country.
The mindset he actually preaches, in his own words rather than a slogan, is that failure is the raw material of invention, that you learn nothing from success and a great deal from what did not work. His line is worth reading because the thousands of failures are not the setback before the story. They are the story.
The moments
James Dyson's timeline.
The 1950s
His father died
Setback, and it changed his direction. His father died of cancer when James was nine. The school where his father had taught kept him on a bursary.
The 1970s
Trained at the Royal College
Milestone. He studied furniture and interior design, then engineering, at the Royal College of Art.
Invented the Ballbarrow
Milestone. A wheelbarrow that rolled on a ball instead of a wheel, his first product under his own name.
The idea for the cyclone
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Frustrated by a vacuum that clogged and lost suction, he set out to build one that used a cyclone instead of a bag.
Years of failed prototypes
Setback, and it changed his direction. Over about five years he built 5,127 prototypes of the machine. 5,126 of them failed before one worked.
The 1980s
Turned down by the makers
Setback, and it changed his direction. The established manufacturers rejected the finished idea, in part because they made their money selling replacement bags.
Launched first in Japan
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Rejected at home, he sold the machine as the G-Force in Japan by catalogue, his first real success.
The 1990s
Founded his own company
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Rather than license the idea again, he set up his own firm at Malmesbury and chose to build the machine himself.
License it, or build it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: build the company himself, taken, or keep licensing to the makers. The company he built at Malmesbury launched the DC01 in 1993, and within about eighteen months it was Britain's best selling cleaner.
The DC01 reached Britain
Milestone, and it changed everything. He opened the factory and put the DC01 in front of Britain. It did not lose suction and needed no bags.
Britain's best selling cleaner
Milestone. Within about eighteen months the DC01 was the best selling vacuum cleaner in the country.
The 2000s
Founded the Dyson Award
Milestone. He set up the James Dyson Award to back young design engineers who solve a problem.
Knighted for services to business
Milestone. From a name the makers would not touch to a knighthood, for the company he had built from the failures.
The line reaches today still climbing. A great deal has been built on that one machine that worked, and the young engineers his award backs each year are drawing lines of their own, most of which will begin, as his did, with something that did not.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
His is nearly eight decades in and still building. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- James Dyson, Against the Odds: An Autobiography, 1997.
- James Dyson, Invention: A Life, 2021.
- Britannica Money, James Dyson biography.
- Wikipedia, James Dyson.
- Science Museum Group, Dyson Appliances Limited (incorporated 8 July 1991).
- jamesdysonaward.org, about the James Dyson Award.