July Designer Focus

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Each Month we focus on an international designer, finding out how they started out, what inspires them and more. To read past interviews just click on these names below;

Peter Rankin Peter Rolfe Lene Bladbjerg Kjersti Johannessen 

This months Designer Focus is with Jake Dyson, also an innovative product designer in his own right. Jakes father, Sir James Dyson, is a well known world wide for his Dyson inventions such as the Dyson bag less vacuum cleaner, Dyson Air Multiplier blade less fan and Dyson Air Blade hand dryer. What drives this family to achieve so much and at such high levels of quality and perfection? We can start by asking Jake what motivates him.

Your first foray into mechanics was when you were just 17 some 21 years ago and you helped your father in the workshop in your coach house. He showed you how to use a mill and lathe. What was so special about that and what components were you making? I was helping him to make prototypes. This type of machinery educates you on the engineering limits. Its a very good educational process on accuracy. We were working on a cyclonic cylinder cleaner for another vacuum cleaner manufacturer. That Summer I worked on ten of these prototypes. This type of machinery educates you on the engineering limits. Its a very good educational process on accuracy.

Did you come up with any engineering solutions that he hadn't spotted? No just purely model making, I was far too young.

How long did you work for him before studying again and was it fun working in the family business? I then did A level's and went straight into an art foundation course. He disapproved of going travelling on a year off. Plus I didn't have the money to go travelling. In art foundation courses, you experiment with all disciplines of art including photography. But it was product design that I really wanted to do. I then went to Central St Martins to do my degree in product design.

The art world genius Andy Warhol was reliant on getting other peoples input on everything he did as if he could not come up with any original ideas himself. Did your father need feedback from you and the team around him as he developed his prototypes or was he always way ahead of everybody else? He's the complete opposite with that. And like him I have belief in what I do. I guess we are both self believers. We don't really believe in getting other peoples input too much.

Having studied at Central St Martins to gain your degree in industrial design, you followed in your fathers footsteps to become a product designer and in 2002 you set up Jake Dyson Ltd. However you did try commercial interior design first with the design of a futuristic bar in Chelsea, then Jess James jewellery shop in Knightsbridge. Though you noticed the huge amount of prep work we have to do before the contract is secured which frustrated you no end, me too. Would you consider commercial interior design again or are you happy just doing the interior schemes and renovating your own properties? No i wouldn't do it again, I much prefer doing product design. And yes I prefer doing up my own houses. It wasn't very challenging doing commercial interiors. However the jewellery shop was really exciting, it had censor activated display cabinets clad in Alma Leather, and the staff had swipes on their wrists which would lift up these beautifully formed leather cabinets.

You have a love of period properties which you share with your family. And your first home in London was a two bedroom Victorian Gothic Revival cottage in Islington designed by Charles Berry in the 1830's and was the rectory to St Peters Church. I believe that these Gothic Revival homes are some of the finest designed homes of the C19th having grown up in an 1840's AWN Pugin influenced Gothic Revival home myself. Due to their good box proportions, decorative fixtures and fittings and exterior gothic styled decoration. You currently still live in a Victorian 1880's home, do you think that you could switch one day to the pure modernism of glass metal and wood with loft like spaces? Absolutely, If planning permission was more freely given in London I would definitely do it. There is a beautiful new build in Hampstead I have seen that I love. I would love to build a modernist home like pop music impressario Tom Watkins, but not in Hastings though. I'm not restricted to C19th property at all, but have recently aquired another in London.

Would you like to try your hand at designing a modernist home? Yes at some time in the future I definately would love to do that.

One of your first products when you set up your first workshop in Wandsworth was a twelve bladed ceiling fan. How was that received and is it still in production and did you really spend 6 years developing it? I spent 3 years developing it and then licensed it, though its still under wraps and I really can't talk about it.

Where do you work from now? We now have the design studio in Clerkenwell which is a very up and coming area for design and we are surrounded by architect firms.

Have you tried 'The Clerkenwell Kitchens' in Clerkenwell yet? Whats that?

Its a fantastic cafe and restaurant with all really great fresh ingredients in The Clerkenwell Woorkshops, this beautiful period warehouse development. They do an amazing carrot cake and fantastic brownies too. I think they have won lots of awards for their cooking all across London. I will Look that up and try it then as i'm really into cooking and food.

Your sister runs her own boutique and your younger brother has his own band, label and studio. Even your mother is an acomplished and recognised designer in the industry with her own brand of hand made rugs designed by her called 'Deirdre Dyson'. What drives you all to achieve so much and at such high levels of quality and perfection? I think that just comes down to first hand experience of watching my father struggle for so many years. And we were brought up with no illusions with how hard you have to work to achieve things and make things happen.

Do you pace yourself between work and keeping a social life going as it can be so absorbing when you are trying to develop a project?  I'm terrible at maintaining and keeping up with friends. You do get very absorbed by work and that's one of the great fascinations of it, plus we have a young child now. Yes work is very absorbing, If its something your really passionate about. But friends are also very important to me too, but so is suceeding in what you want to achieve in.

What are your hobbies away from product design and renovating your homes? I don't really have hobbies really, But I am passionate about remote controlled cars and a remote controlled helicopter that I also built. I love watching air shows and love all flying machines. Closer to home I'm quite fastidious about my garden and weeds apppearing. Oh yes i'm passionate about cooking too.

Would you like to learn to fly? I don't have a pilots licence, plus it would take up an awful lot of time to get a licence.

In your first London home in Islington you had a Bautrap kitchen installed, have you stuck with the brand on subsequent homes? I had a second Bautrap kitchen, but I have now switched to Boffee which is my preferred choice now.

You must have seen the setbacks and heart ache of trying to develop products that were ground breaking and cutting edge and watching to see how these products would finally be accepted. Did you do detailed market research for your Motorlight floor and Motorllight wall to ensure that there was an adequate gap in the market for them to fit into having see your father take around 20 years to get his bag less vacuum cleaner to market? Its very hard to do market research for something that doesn't exist. If your designing a multi angle adjustable uplighter that doesn't exist, the public would have said no. And I won't design a product that already exists and already has a reputation. It just wouldn't interest me at all. What motivates me can be entirely selfish in that I think I will design something that I would really want to have in my own home.

What got my attention with Motorlight wall and Motoright floor when i saw your lighting products at 100 percent design last September was the high levels of quality and design. Even your colour choices were superb. Also, both products ar extremely over engineered. In fact very Germanic, not what we have come to expect from this country. How come? because its a functional moving product the accuracy of how its made and how the tolerances work. Its about how mechanical parts move and their reliability. If you take any other light on the market it just has a switch on it. Its the difference from designing a product that doesn't do anything. Making a mechanical product and a light. Theres a huge amount of light engineering and it is mechanical moving.

The only real great British design that springs to mind to me is Formula One Car Design and your fathers bag less vacuum cleaners, how come? Well, i can't comment on the first, but a Formula One car has to be absolutely balanced. The need for everything to be perfect and refined is a must. The tolerances are immense.

Did it really take 4 years to perfect the Motorlight? Yes, it took 2.5 years then a further year to do modifications. We took a motor from a microwave, the one that spins the plate. It didn't have a ball bearing and didn't work. We then found another motor that worked with the product and did live testing ourselves.

Unofficially I'm a big fan of the Dyson bag less vacuum cleaner and am on my third, though didn't let on to your father when I met him at your mothers industry open evening. Do you think you can build a loyal following like his as you develop your Motorlight variable range? Initially it is a struggle to break into the industry. My father encountered the same problem. if you develop a new brand in a competitive market, its very hard to gain trust. Also the difference is that his product is a necessity whilst mine is a luxury product. Its very niche and its all about design. Though I'm now moving into designing a desk light. A desk light is far more needed. But we are a creative brand and with the product Motorlight, we are doing clever things with light.

Does Motoright share engineering and production with your main family brand in Malaysia or have you managed to source all that is needed in this country? The motors are British from a firm called Rotor Link. The metal spinning is made in Birmingham and the glass is made in China. The linear ball slides are made in Japan and every other component is made by suppliers we have great links with in Malaysia where they are so resourceful.

More importantly, do you have new products under develoment which are still cloaked in secrecy until you are ready to share them with the design world, or will you focus on further developing the lighting range for now? As I mentioned, i'm working on a desk lamp. We are also launching a conversion of the Motorlight wall light with LED and are working on the software to work it on variables. Halogen is due to be basically banned soon. We've been spending the last 8 months working on an LED version that is twice as bright and ten times more energy efficient.

The late great Alexander McQueen must have been a fan of your Motorlight and his shop display designer used your Motorlight wall light in the shop window display of his Milan store, then later his New York store too. Like his clothing you have market leading design concepts that take normal lighting to new levels. How did the McQueen project come about? His shop designer had seen the Motorlight wall and really loved it. He changes the themes in his store windows and came into the Clerkenwell studio with a £60,000 dress with onycs in it. He wanted to highlight these kind of amazing clothes with the variable light settings achievable with Motorlight wall.

What other interesting commercial installations have you done. Recently Conrans put the Motorlight wall light on the ceiling of their restaurant called Lytens. Also, I have a distributer in Hong Kong who has a new store called Gurus. They approached us to represent our product there.

In my loft apartment my favourite light is a lazer light projector that beams the solar system and cloud formations onto the largest 15ft high wall. It is mesmerising and if I see anther like it I would have to have it. My interest in laser lighting has come from the amazing laser lighting one sees in modern mightclubs in major cities around the world. Would you at some stage also consider incorporating modern laser light show effects into any of your lighting products? No, laser lighting is very specific to performance art and there are a handful of companies that specialise in that arena. I'm more interested in pure white light. Laser light is more hectic lighting and is great in rock shows or the theatre. A lot of these products you don't really see as they are in black metal boxes. I prefer designing things that people see.

Your 'Focal Shift display installation at The Milan Furniture Fair, then The Pomegranate Gallery in Soho New York which you did with designer Jason Burges of the Jason Burges Studio looked stunning and was a great use of the Motorlight wall light. I was in awe of Jason's mechanical Panda's which I saw on a trip to Selfridges store last year. Originally created for Pandemonium, curated by Artwise, for the WWF, Panda Eyes responded to a brief to raise awareness on climate changes. The artwork comprised of an army of one hundred of the Charity's emblematic Pandas collection boxes. The loveable wild bears would rotate autonomously tracking the presence of visitors to the Design Museum where they are currently on display. Do you plan to do more creative installation work with Jason and his team? Not with the Motorlight wall light, it was fun working with him and a great demonstration with the project. He works on projects that are often around for a while and then go. But I really would consider promoting my product in an artistic way like that again. And a lot of design classics start off in the work place and then end up at home. Its a very good wall to launch a product. I don't know when I will have another product like that though.

FOCAL SHIFT As part of the Salone international furniture fair in Milan, Jason Bruges Studio worked with Jake Dyson to create ‘Focal Shift’, an interactive installation using his Motorlight Wall. It was shown at Entratalibera the contemporary design space owned by Bruno Rainaldi and also at the ICFF in New York in May 2009

Your father runs his fundation which helps up and coming graduate product designers showcase their work to a wider audience. Are you always on the look out for good product designers to interact with and give some moral support? I employ students and do work placements. I can do a little teaching to these students too and I also get to go student shows. However i'm not in a position to look to give back in a charity format. We are too small a firm and its too intense at the moment.

Has anything caught your eye on minimalhome such as 'Trailcat' or 'SLEEPBOX'? Anything innovative catches my eye, I haven't seen the SLEEPBOX but will have a look. It has to be functional, mechanical and innovative. Its not just about styling.

On e-BerkeleyShop.com we want to do our bit to showcase really great design, but would love to do more to promote British design and innovation as we are best known in the World for Formula 1 technology and a certain bag less vacuum cleaner. How do you think that we can raise awareness to what this country has to offer? I think in the press there's too much focus with celebrities and fashion and not enough on design. This is all the media seems to be interested in these days. It upsets me that everything open to debate on the media is just fashion fashion fashion and they really should think about other topics.

Like the great C19th designers this country became great from our inventions. Your father recently co-hosted a programme about such great British designers? Yes it was called 'The Genius of Britain' which he co hosted with several others for the BBC. These great inventors led us to a massive empire. People do like great design, though tend to expect products to do what they do and don't look much further into this. However hundreds of people were recently queuing for the new Apple iphone4 outside the Apple Store in Regents Street, London on the day it was released. They really appreciate that design.

Me too, I got my Apple iphone4 upgrade on the day it came out too. The fascination is there, however journalists only go with what they know.

Up until recently, with a few well known captains of industry, people in this country really didn't seem to like to see other people being successful, why is this? Maybe they are more interested in the success story. But then, they also love to see them get bashed down.

Yes that used to be called 'Tall Poppy Syndrome' in the late eighties and early nineties!

Finally, I really do hope that you and your family continue to inspire us all with your great work ethic and your desire to innovate.