From Vacuum to Vessels: A Journey in Sustainability How Dyson's lessons powered the innovation behind POTR

Andrew Flynn, founder of POTR, a company that designs sustainable, self-watering plant pots, shares his journey from working at Dyson to launching eco-friendly innovations in gardening. The entrepreneur talks about how his love for sustainability drives his work and what it really means to cultivate a greener future.

What inspired you to shift from Dyson engineering to founding POTR, and what lessons from that experience guide you now?

We founded POTR as an experiment, it was something we did for fun just to see if we could make something happen. The idea was to design a product with sustainability at its core, free from the usual constraints of working within a large company – things like cost, timelines, and competing priorities. This freedom allowed us to focus entirely on creating a product with the smallest possible carbon footprint while offering real benefits to users, like our self-watering feature. We were able to completely rethink the traditional plant pot and find innovative ways to make it both more sustainable and user-friendly.

However, my experience at Dyson was invaluable in laying the foundation for all of this. It taught me the importance of "failing fast" – testing ideas thoroughly before bringing them to market. Dyson constantly emphasised lean engineering, and that's central to POTR's ethos too: doing more with less. Scaling production reliably while keeping the design simple and efficient is something I carried over as well.

Can you describe the creative challenges you faced in designing the self-watering origami plant pots?

The biggest challenge was reducing the carbon footprint of a traditional plant pot by making it flat-packable and light enough to be sent through a letterbox. Getting there was no easy task. It took over 600 prototypes to settle on a design that could transform from something flat into a sturdy pot capable of holding water – there were times we thought about giving up, but I'm glad we persevered!

Developing a reliable self-watering system was tough. We explored various complex options, including pumps and app-controlled solutions, but in the end, simplicity won. We settled on using capillarity action wicking cords, which draw water from the reservoir to the soil, allowing plants to self-regulate their hydration. This solution not only aligned with our sustainability goals but also proved to be highly effective for the customer.

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How did you achieve 100 times more carbon efficiency than traditional pots, and what can other entrepreneurs learn from this?

Sustainability isn't something you can tack on at the end – it has to be considered from the very start of the design process. For us, flat-packing was a major breakthrough. By eliminating wasted space and weight during shipping, we were able to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. When we shipped our first pallet of 3,500 pots to Japan, it took up the same space that would normally require two 40-foot containers if we used traditional plant pots. That meant just 15kg of CO2 emissions instead of 3,000kg.

On top of that, we reduced material usage by up to 95%. Our pots weigh only 60 grams compared to 2,000 grams for a traditional pot of the same size. Plus, we use recycled plastic from post-consumer and post-industrial waste, and we're always looking for new ways to repurpose materials that would otherwise end up in landfill. The key takeaway for other entrepreneurs is that sustainability must be baked into the design process from day one.

What insights did you gain from your Dragons' Den experience, and what tips do you have for startups pitching to investors?

I had the chance to speak to Deborah Meaden at the Chelsea Flower Show for an hour and I took away so much. She named us Sustainable Product of the Year, which was a huge honour and a bit of a game changer for the business.She responded well to us because our design decisions are driven by data and research, not just gut feel. We were able to show her the environmental benefits of our product with hard facts, and that really helped us stand out. I think we checked a lot of boxes in terms of being authentic, having a clear vision, and knowing our target market.

We've now had lots of positive conversations with investors and it's abundantly clear that investors don't just want to make money – they want to solve real-world problems that help both people and the planet too. Deborah is a leader in ethical investing, but she's not alone. I had watched Dragon's Den and saw many entrepreneurs fail because they didn't know their numbers, so I made sure I knew everything inside out. The advice I've really taken forward from her was to always know exactly who you're aiming to reach and which partnerships will help you get there.

What unique strategies did you use to successfully adapt your product for the Japanese market?

Spending time in the market and building strong relationships with export partners has been key to understanding the unique needs of Japanese consumers — something that's hard to achieve over Zoom alone. During our first trip to Tokyo and Yokohama we discovered Japanese consumers tend to favour smaller flower bouquets compared to Western markets, and they're also more sensitive to colour choices. Different flowers and colours are used to signify different occasions, like weddings, birthdays, and funerals.As a result, we adapted our letterbox vase to accommodate smaller bouquets and worked with the Bloomee team to adjust our colour palette to better suit typical Japanese bouquets. Understanding local preferences and adapting accordingly is essential when entering any new market.

We were fortunate to have our hands held for much of the process by Scottish Development International, who helped us build strong partnerships withJapanese importers and distributors, like the one with Diasho Trading, who have helped distribute our products across more than 100 Bloomee outlets.

What sustainability trends do you see emerging in the gardening sector that UK entrepreneurs should consider?

Consumers are increasingly focused on where their products come from, how they're made, and what happens to them at the end of their life. This means entrepreneurs should think about every stage of their product's life — from production to disposal.

There's a push toward sourcing products locally, reducing the environmental impact of long-distance shipping. We're also seeing a rise in the use of innovative materials, not just recycled plastics but also bio-materials and natural alternatives, like the limited edition pot we made from discarded fishing nets. Products that encourage biodiversity are also gaining traction. At a recent trade show in Birmingham, we met a company called Beevive, which focuses on protecting biodiversity with an emphasis on bee populations.

Many of the plants and flowers sold in the UK are imported, but more companies are starting to prioritise locally grown flora to reduce their carbon footprint. A lot of our future innovations are focused on how we can encourage growing at home, not just ornamental plants but also food. We believe that supporting sustainable home-based growing will play a big role in the future of the gardening sector.