Can you tell more about your role as inventor-in-residence?

My role at the Science Museum is to create products that draw on the museum’s collection as well as some of the more intriguing scientific phenomena on show. The hope is that these products spark an interest in science, design and engineering. I design products that sell in the museum shop and create objects to help publicise events or exhibitions. The museum is very good at presenting science in an engaging and accessible way, and I’m trying to design products that do the same.

What inventions inspired by the museum have you launched so far?

I’ve created almost two-dozen products, some directly inspired by objects in the museum – others in response to a brief. My latest product, the Open Up Lamp, demonstrates (and explains) the action of bimetallic strips under heat. It’s a lampshade that opens up like a flower when the light bulb turns on and then closes when the bulb is off. The science behind it is explained on the packaging. The end result is, I hope, a desirable product that people would want in their homes.

We also sell a lot of pencils in the museum shop. I was asked to think of something new to refresh what’s currently on offer. Using Science Museum equipment, I measured the pencil precisely, wrote exactly 1,000 words and measured it again. Extrapolating the wear, I printed a scale on the side of the pencil that states approximately how many words you have written as the pencil wears down (the average HB pencil contains 36,264 words). But this prompts people to ask: what if I push harder or use a 2B pencil instead? Or, if I write in a language that uses a lot of compound words, will I get less words from the pencil? If people have been provoked to think like a scientist, it’s gratifying.

On occasions, I’ve been asked to make press-worthy objects to accompany the launch of a new gallery or exhibition. For example, I designed a desk light to present to Stephen Hawking for his 70th birthday on the opening of an exhibition about his work. Called the Black Hole light, it mimics the spiral path that light takes as it falls into a black hole. For the royal opening of the new Information Age Gallery, which charts the development of communications technology, I made a bouquet of copper, computer punch cards and genuine ticker tape for the Queen.

What makes this residency work for you as an inventor?

The museum provides me with a reasonable degree of autonomy to pursue my own ideas, while also providing me with design briefs for opportunities they have spotted. I usually work on a few products at once, since they often have different development times. While not at the museum, I work on my own business, Concentrate – which I successfully pitched on Dragons’ Den a few years ago – developing ideas through to marketable products. This helps me to refine the skill of knowing when to pursue an idea and when to drop it. This is the key to making the residency fruitful. The museum also tends to throw challenges my way, like those with Stephen Hawking and the Queen, which keeps me on my toes and makes the whole thing exciting.

James Dyson recently said that “the age of invention isn’t dead, it just needs time” – what do you make of his comments?

What constitutes an invention is changing. The tech startups that cluster around Silicon Roundabout often have the advantage of being about to establish themselves online with very low startup costs. Their innovations often reappropriate existing hardware, such as smartphones or computers, and extend our capabilities, but in many cases, these are still inventions. The next Frank Whittle will probably not be working on something like a jet engine – more likely a blend of product and service.

Where I completely agree with Dyson is that consumers underestimate the time and effort it takes to develop a physical product. I suspect that society’s expectations of shorter “gestation periods” for innovative new products are being driven in two ways. First, by the speed that online services are developing and second, by low price points and the constant updating of consumable products such as electronics and clothing.

How have modern technologies impacted invention and your process?

New manufacturing technologies have lowered the cost and development times required to make something. This makes life easier for me, but the step between batch manufacture and mass manufacture is still a large one, often requiring you to put in place a global supply chain, or having to convince a manufacturer to take a risk.

One interesting development is that new technology is opening up “making” to a wider community. For many companies, this has meant their own products are being modified and incrementally improved by their own customers. In turn, this has meant that rather than innovation conducted from within the company via research and development (R&D) departments, in a top-down system, businesses are increasingly sourcing ideas from their customers. This raises all kinds of interesting question about the future role of businesses in creating the stuff we want to consume.

What career tips would you give to a young, aspiring inventor?

I suspect that most inventors are on the edge of giving up. It’s profoundly difficult and precarious to do something new. That said, it can be richly rewarding if you get it right, as James Dyson has done. The key is to know when to invest time and effort in an idea, and when not to.

Also, it goes counter to most professions to diversify your areas of expertise and take on projects in as many different areas as possible, but you should. It’s essential in order to be able to learn the perspectives from which an idea needs to be interrogated. It will likely result in a sporadic and unsteady income stream – and an uncertain career – but you will be a better inventor.

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