A modest Georgian property, in a terrace of similar
structures in London’s Mayfair, conceals much behind
its elegant brick facade. For this is the private oice of
the Dyson family, Britain’s most successful modern
industrial dynasty. Intended as the nerve centre for all
family business, it combines domestic scale interiors
with sleek modernist inishes, contemporary craft
skills and the latest in industrial design.
Sir James Dyson oversees a multi-billion pound
business empire, with a vast R&D centre (designed by
Wilkinson Eyre) in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and around
4,500 UK employees, mostly engineers. Manufacturing
is taken care of by 5,000 more in factories in Asia.
Dyson designs and manufactures vacuum cleaners, hair
dryers, fans and lighting, and a much-vaunted foray
into personal mobility is currently taking shape. The
business has always involved the rest of his family, all of
whom have their own creative concerns. This includes
his wife, Lady Deirdre Dyson, an acclaimed artist and
carpet designer, and their son Jake, who is the
company’s R&D director and chief lighting engineer.
The creation of the new oice, which actually
encompasses two adjoining houses, was partly driven
by Deirdre. ‘Dyson is very much a family business.
We needed a central meeting place for the family,
and also somewhere for international meetings to
save people heading down to Malmesbury,’ she says.
Working with the London-based studio of architect
Alexander Martin, she has completed 14 brand new
unique carpet designs for the space, liaising closely »FAMILY
AFFAIR
The Dyson dynasty has brought
advanced engineering and rigorous
rugs to its new Mayfair oice
PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMONE BOSSI WRITER: JONATHAN BELL172 ∑
LEFT AND OPPOSITE, DEIRDRE
DYSON CREATED 14 UNIQUE
CARPET DESIGNS FOR
DYSON’S LONDON OFFICE,
INCLUDING THOSE FOR THE
FAMILY OFFICE (WHERE
CYCLONE MOTIFS FEATURE ON
THE FIREPLACE), RECEPTION
AREA AND MAIN BOARDROOM
BELOW, A PRECISELY
ENGINEERED STEEL AND
CONCRETE STAIRCASE LEADS
FROM A SMALL COURTYARD
TO A TERRACE ABOVE