THE THING ABOUT DYSON

Spending lavishly on expensive gadgets, experimenting on new things, making big, brash claims - is Dyson facing a midlife crisis, or is it at the precipice of a brave new era?

- SUFFIAN HAKIM 

WE’VE ALL HAD FRIENDS WHO, whether spurred on by a need to be experimental or a midlife crisis (usually both), begin spending lavishly on gadgets, take up an array of new hobbies that do not seem to align with who they are, and talk loudly and brashly about these new things in their life.

They invite sympathy and scorn. Those who sympathise understand that it can be frustrating being stuck, playing the same role over and over again in your personal and professional lives. Sometimes, you need to break out of your mould. Otherwise, you only get a narrow, limited experience of life, humanity, the Earth, the universe.

Those who scorn... well, not everyone likes the uncle wearing loud, ostentatious clothes or driving loud, ostentatious cars or talking loudly, ostentatiously – you get the idea.

Through this lens, one can – rightly or wrongly – see Dyson as a brand that seems to be undergoing its own midlife crisis. Conceived in the quaint English town of Malmesbury in 1991, it has in fact exceeded the average lifespan of a company in the '90s (20 years according to Standard & Poor). But there are signs that it’s trying to reinvent itself in a manner not unlike a midlife crisis. The brand, hailing from the United Kingdom but headquartered in Singapore, has spent £2.75 billion on new products, entering product categories that seem removed from its DNA, or at least, its current slate of products. This investment is above what it had already spent developing an electric car – yes, Dyson made its own EV – but was ultimately deemed unsuitable for retail or public release.