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“We actually breed our own dust mites so we can really understand their behavior and design our filtration systems around them,” Simon Cross, senior design manager at Dyson, tells Well+Good. “We have a whole microbiology team here.” The image of Dyson employees lassoing herds of manufactured mites to test vacuums may sound ridiculous, but it speaks to the care and attention that goes into creating every Dyson product. The tech-forward British housewares company has no interest in cutting corners—it just wants to make sure they’re sparkly clean.
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Simon Cross is the senior design manager at Dyson.
Dyson first launched in the United States in 2002, with the Dyson DCO1 Dual Cyclone vacuum. Almost 20 years later, it has extended its reach into every area of well-being from lighting to hair care to air purification. “Our purpose at Dyson has always been to solve the problems that others ignore. What we tend to do is look into a sector where perhaps innovation has been a little bit stagnant, and then we try to approach things differently,” says Cross.
Most recently, the company reimagined indoor lighting with Lightcycle, a sleek line of fixtures that are able to mimic natural sunlight and how it changes throughout the day. “We have a neuroscientist who works with us to really understand the effects that light can have on our mood, our hormones, and our eye health,” says Cross. During development, Dyson used satellite readings to measure natural light levels throughout the day in order to reproduce them artificially. “We even looked at the color temperature of the light, so when someone gets the product home, it will be able to recreate the color temperature and the brightness for their location at any given time of day,” adds Cross.
“Our purpose at Dyson has always been to solve the problems that others ignore.” —Simon Cross, Dyson’s senior design manager
When Dyson entered the hair-appliance market, it sought to solve a problem that stylists and consumers have been agonizing over for years: Hot tools really aren’t great for your hair. Traditional straighteners, blow-dryers, and curling wands can strip your hair’s natural oils and damage its proteins by breaking down the hydrogen bonds—particularly when the devices are used at high temperatures. Dyson found a fix. Its Corrale Straightener smooths the hair by using less heat, and then applies tension to “reset” the hydrogen bonds so strands take on a straighter shape, Cross explains. The company also figured out how to harness a physical phenomenon known as the Coanda Effect to create curls by shaping the strands with air instead of excessive heat.
This year, expect Dyson to continue its innovation streak in the lighting, cleaning, purifying, and personal-care spaces—and to create more problem-solving products that make your home a healthier place.
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