When an inventor came up with an idea to combine a hovercraft with a lawnmower he wouldn’t just reinvent the wheel - but remove them all together.
Swedish superstar Karl Dahlman dared to defy gravity and thought, "why push a lawnmower, when you can make it fly?"
Inspired by the 1950s hovercraft invented just a few years earlier, Karl created a machine which would revolutionise lawncare and change the way people mowed their grass forever. Karl invented a lawn mower that would glide on a cushion of air, which was completely ground-breaking compared to the heavy, petrol-powered push lawnmowers of the time.
The first Flymo, a combination of flying and mower, was actually blue but changed the colour after speaking to a range of consumers - and the famous orange brand was born in 1965, making Flymo 60 years old.
Back in 1965, gardeners were initially sceptical about the flying mower but were left stunned by demonstrations and many rushed to replace their old-fashioned petrol wheeled mowers for the light and agile Flymo.
Julie Blades, Flymo product manager, joked she ‘bleeds orange’ and revealed she becomes an undercover shopper to get customer feedback.
She said: “We live and breathe the brand.
“Our blood is orange and I'm super proud to work for the brand.
“When I go to B&Q with my husband on a weekend I observe people looking at lawn mowers and exploring whether they pick up a Flymo.
“I have friends and family that buy cheap models but end up having to throw it away and go back to Flymo because it’s more reliable.”
The first electric model was launched in 1970 followed by the first grass collecting version in 1981 which received a Queen’s Award for export achievement.
Love Actually’s Bill Nighy, Peter Sallis from Wallace & Gromit and Coronation Street’s Ken Morley are among a host of stars to appear in Flymo’s famous adverts over the past 60 years.
Peter, who voiced Wallace, promoted the E-Minimo to tackle “handkerchief lawns” while startled Ken, who played legendary Reg Holdsworth in Corrie, used his mower to quickly cut the lawn as his wife arrived home in the 1986 advert.
Peter Roughead, a now retired product manager, who worked for Flymo for 25 years, said: “We had incredibly innovative products, but never chose to talk about the science in the ads.
“Instead, it was about how our innovation led to ease and speed.
“We know most Flymo customers don’t enjoy cutting the grass or doing gardening jobs, it’s something they want done quickly so they can get on with enjoying their garden.
“So that was always the tone, to make gardening tasks quick and fun at all times.
“We’d start planning the ads early in the year, it was a big and important part of our year. Lines like ‘why slow mow when you can Flymo’ stuck with the public for years and years.”
In 1999 Flymo launched the first cordless, battery powered mower for small gardens and in 2017 created the first Flymo Lithium-Ion battery lawnmower, the Mighti-Mo 300 Li, which quickly became the number one selling battery lawnmower in the UK.
Today the Flymo is instantly recognisable by all generations and the UK’s best-selling hover mower.
Darren Feasey, Senior Director for Product Strategy for Flymo & GARDENA, said: “The colour is iconic.
“My kids recognise the brand every time they see an orange lawnmower.
“Flymo has been passed down generations - my dad and grandad had one, and over the years Flymo has stayed in the family."
