The art-school engineer who built a global brand on a bagless vacuum after ~5,127 prototypes — and a British manufacturing icon whose Singapore HQ move and pandemic dealings drew scrutiny.
Dyson · Engineering, consumer technology · est. 1991Born in Cromer, Norfolk in 1947; trained in industrial design at the Royal College of Art (1966–70). Developed ~5,127 prototypes of a bagless cyclonic vacuum, launched the G-Force in Japan in 1983, opened a UK factory at Malmesbury in 1993, and won a 1999 patent case against Hoover. Moved manufacturing to Malaysia/Singapore ~2002 and relocated the global HQ to Singapore in January 2019. Net worth ~13bn USD; the company is privately held by the Dyson family.
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Sir James Dyson built a global engineering brand on stubbornness and a bagless vacuum, then drew accusations of contradiction by backing Brexit while moving his HQ to Singapore. A sourced, critically neutral look at the engineering, the abandoned car, the "Dyson amendment," and the disputed supplier allegations.