Oliver Blackwell

Oliver graduated from Plymouth University with a degree in industrial design in 2005. By 2006 his products were already receiving huge media attention, with the WashDryIron winning the Ideal Home Show Concept Product Award. Oliver used the product’s success as a springboard to set up his own design consultancy as well as developing and taking to market his own products.

Oliver thanks his background and his Dad for his flair for invention. “My father has always been involved in developing and renovating buildings,” says Oliver, “And from an early age I have been involved with making and building things. Coming from a rural background you spend a lot of time improvising and constructing or mending things. I think the best engineers and designers will come from rural areas where their livelihood depends on the ability to mend things.”

Oliver’s ability was quickly recognised by the Institute of Chartered Designers, awarding him Chartered status in 2008. Oliver has spent the last 2 years managing a $15m contract developing agricultural machinery for an Australasian business as well as developing many of his own products, the first to be released being Revolution.

Oliver believes that successful entrepreneurs, like successful designers, make their own luck. “If you want it, you will get it,” he says, “But you have to be your own engine. I think 1 in 30 of my ideas works and I am far more fortunate than most. You do need luck but you have to make your own luck as well. You have to be your own role model. Be proud of who you are.”