It is a fair bet that 14 years ago when designer James Dyson launched his first vacuum cleaner on to the British market someone thought that it was intended for children.

The bright colours, plasticky appearance and unconventional design – features that have been carried through on all subsequent models – do have a certain toy-like quality. And yet there is little evidence of parents struggling to wrest the family Dyson from the hands of their suction-obsessed offspring.