Dyson was born into a family of teachers and had excellent grades in middle school. He studied furniture and interior design at the Royal College of Art from 1966 to 1970. During his study, he was involved in many design activities; the motorboat named "Sea Truck" designed by him won the Design Council Award and the Duke of Edinburgh Special Award in 1975. In 1974, Dyson began to design the Ballbarrow on his own. This trolley won the Architectural Innovation Award in 1977. In 1979, Dyson sold his shares in the Ballbarrow and developed a new type of cyclonic vacuum cleaner by himself.