Top 20 Under 40: Alexander Gransbury from Dreamfarm

Have you ever thought up a really innovative kitchen product only to find that it actually already exists? This is the guy that probably beat you to it.

Business might be booming for Dreamfarm founder Alexander Gransbury, but the self-described kitchen tool inventor is still hungry.

“I think we’re way behind where we should be,” Gransbury says. “I’m not happy with it.”

This is despite Dreamfarm achieving $7 million turnover with growth of 35 per cent year-on-year, including doubling its turnover in its lucrative US market.

Dreamfarm founder Alex Gransbury

Founded in 2003, Dreamfarm has become one of the global leaders in creative kitchen products, with 16 staff across Australia and the US, and products shipped to 30 countries.

His products are found in major department stores such as Bloomingdales in the US, John Lewis in the UK and Myer in Australia.

When describing how he’s managed to continue innovating, Gransbury says he’s driven to always solve problems.

“We compete on function,” he says. “All of our design starts at: what does it do? Has that been done before? Is that of any value to people? Will it work better than everything else that is already out there?”

Gransbury says he’s inherited his inventive spirit from his grandfather, but admits he almost became an accountant.

“There was a moment where everyone else at the (accounting course) started to get internships for their second year. I was like, oh my god, is this the path I am going down?”

He quickly compiled a list of five inventions, one of which he found was particularly easy to replicate.

“I could make it out of plumbing pipes, garden hose and bolts. It meant I could make fifty of them at very small scale with parts from the local hardware store.”

The invention, called the Grindenstein, was a coffee knock-box which became a must-have for cafes everywhere for baristas to easily knock out spent grinds into the pipe while at the machine.

In recent years, Dreamfarm has shown itself to have lost little of its inventive spirit, with products such as its “mini supoon” becoming viral sensations and the Ortwo, raising $35,000 on Kickstarter.

Gransbury says building a community around his products had been a priority since the early days of the company.

He originally built a following on online forums, a precursor to Dreamfarm’s demonstration videos.

“We make the world’s best kitchen tools and gadgets, our biggest challenge in life is explaining to people what we have done and why they should care,” he says.