Alternatively, you can get the measure of one at Dyson's new "Demo" store in London, which not-so-coincidentally opens its doors today. The first of these interactive spaces debuted in Paris way back in 1999. Over the past couple of years, though, they've come to Tokyo, Jakarta, and now London's shopping-mad Oxford Street. The best way I can describe it is like walking into a fancy infomercial. Products sit on white plinths, illuminated by swish LED spotlights developed by Jake Dyson, son of company frontman James. His lamps are showcased alongside hoovers and fanless fans, with wall-sized screens playing 30-second loops of Dyson adverts.

Under one of those screens is a little demo area with various types of flooring. Dyson doesn't want to call its shop a shop because it imagines it as a place where people come to understand the company's technology better. In this case, it means visiting a debris bar serving up no less than 64 different types of crud you can chuck on the floor and then hoover up. We're sure the staff also have an endless supply of factoids for you, including such Dyson favourites as 'X thing took decades to develop' and 'those motors though.'

Self-congratulations continue upstairs on a floor dedicated to Dyson's reinvention of the hair dryer, the Supersonic. There are a bunch of museum-style exhibits explaining how it works, how it was tested, and just how many prototypes the company built. Here, you'll also find beautification stations that let you test the thing out, with staff on hand to give style tips, or talk about the Supersonic's superior weighting. And if you're not interested in testing or buying a product, you can also simply stop in for your daily dose of "free purified air," courtesy of Dyson's Pure Cool Link purifier-slash-fans.