Origins
There are a lot of vacuum cleaner brands out there- some you know, lots you don't. Some have a story, some don't - so let us tell you ours.
Pablo always had engineering "in the blood"- in the sense, that he always knew he would be doing something technical in his life. His Great Uncle received the "freedom of the city" of London for his work on gas supply, and his Grandfather was an aircraft mechanic in Spain. Lucas is a tinker-er and an inventor by nature- overcoming problems and making things his whole life.
Pablo Montero & Lucas Horne, founders of Lupe Technology
Lucas & Pablo met while working in the research & development department of Dyson, where they learnt a great deal about what vacuum cleaners need to do, and what makes them last. Whilst in many ways, it was an inspiring place to work (think of it as a bit of an engineering "playground", backed by limitless budgets), it was also frustrating (playgrounds aren't always the best places to get things done!).
We're not the first appliance brand to have been formed by people who previously worked at an established brand in the sector. Did you know that Sebo was founded by engineers who used to work at Vorwerk?
After many years working at Dyson, we chose to move onto other things than vacuum cleaners....only for a short while it would transpire!
Back when we founded Lupe, cordless vacuums were starting to become popular, but they also weren't very good....at all. We had also experienced a wave of cost-saving at Dyson, and saw what it was doing to the end-products, and indeed then noticing it in all appliances. We felt we could do something better, and also bring a different way of doing these every-day, but important, products, to market.
Inspired to innovate
With youthful optimism, Lupe was founded, and the start of a journey began. Through hundreds of prototypes and tests,we developed the patented Suction Intensifier technology to pick up dust more efficiently, and the unique Lupe Pure Cordless platform to carry it. The pure cordless vacuum cleaner was designed and developed over five years, to be an outstanding cordless vacuum cleaner with extremely high standards of engineering & technology. Lucas led this process, and says:
“Without the constraints and pressures of a large organization we believe we can do it better. We want to build on our experiences and challenge the way vacuum cleaners are now thought of as throw-away items to replace every few years.”
A different business model
On our journey we looked at many factories as candidates for manufacturing our product. One thing stuck out- just how mind blowing, and unfathomable, the sheer quantity of different items produced by all these factories is. And what is sobering, is the thought that most of these items will end up as non-recyclable waste.
In an age of huge waste and built-to-break culture, a substantial commitment to create socially & environmentally responsible products is vital. Many companies launch 'new' products year after year which drives perfectly usable, or easily repairable product prematurely, to waste. We need to do things differently and Lucas speaks to this:
”Through developing a fully serviceable device, with an open supply of parts and upgrades, the team have created a vacuum cleaner that will be as long lasting as possible. That’s what differentiates Lupe from the majority of vacuum cleaner companies. You don't throw your whole bicycle away if you want to upgrade a wheel or fit a new tire - we take that approach to vacuum cleaners.”
Climbing mountains takes one step at a time
How many people do you know that have launched a physical product that is produced in any kind of high volume? We would wager that its not that many (if any), let alone those that have made it a success. The reason is because its really, really, hard.
They said we were mad to think we could do what we ended up doing but 1) that youthful optimism, and 2), the fact that all great businesses were once where we were, meant that we set out with confidence- but there was a mountain ahead of us.
Financing, marketing, sales, technical, all with extremely limited resources is very tough to do, when you have other companies you are competing with, that seem to have all the resources in the world to work with. It's a good job then, that Pablo enjoys 'hard':
” I relish the challenge in anything. When I am told that I "can't do" something, that's what fuels me to do it (when its something I believe in). There is power in just keeping-on-going (whatever) and that doggedness is what drives me, and a lot of others in this field.”
Where are we now?
We're in that golden time where we're big enough to give good service (just look at our reviews) and still small enough to really care. We're not a big corp driven only by next quarter's numbers and product launches. We're real people, with a product that we are proud of, and customers we care about.
If you have read as far as this you're interested in what we're about, so we'd invite you to reach out and chat to us, any time.
