James Dyson’s self-produced designs range from furniture to interior and product design, but it is for his eponymous vacuum cleaners that he is best known. He has received many international prizes: an award from the Design Council, UK, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Special Prize, for Sea Truck (awarded in 1975); the Building Design Innovation award, for Ballbarrow (1977); the International Design Fair prize, Japan, for G-Force (1991); and the Industrial Design Prize of America, the Institute of Engineering Designers Gerald Frewer Trophy, and the Chartered Society of Designers Minerva Award, all for the vacuum cleaner.

* Designer biographies provided by Merrell Publishers, London and New York.