[Interview] Refining the Innovative Design of Samsung’s Bespoke Jet™

(From left to right) Vacuum engineers Hun Kang, Yoonkyung Cho, Jongkuk Lim and Daon Lee pose with the Bespoke Jet™ and its All-in-One Clean Station™, Samsung’s latest innovative cordless vacuum that they helped bring to life.

Offering a powerful end-to-end clean with an All-in-One Clean Station™, Samsung Electronics’ Bespoke Jet™ vacuum makes tidying up the house as easy as can be.

To learn more about how Samsung optimized the feature-packed vacuum to cater to consumers’ evolving needs, Samsung Newsroom spoke to  vacuum cleaner engineer, and project leader Jongkuk Lim and his team who were in charge of the appliance’s development. Read on to find out all you need to know about Samsung’s inspiration for the Bespoke Jet™ and the innovative technologies that brought the device to life.

Putting Consumers’ Needs First

Jongkuk Lim shares his team’s insights that show that today’s consumers increasingly prioritize hygiene and weight as key aspects of their cordless vacuum experience.

Recently, as people around the world have begun to spend more time at home, they’ve started to place more focus on keeping their living spaces clean. This has led to increased interest in stick vacuum cleaners that are both powerful and easy to use. As Lim explained, performance and ease of use were just two of the many factors that Samsung considered when refining the Bespoke Jet™ design.

“Markets around the world are quickly shifting from corded vacuum cleaners to a cordless robot or stick vacuums, which help reduce manual labor,” said Lim. “Because many homes outside of Korea are carpeted and have pets, it is essential for stick vacuums to offer excellent performance regardless of the type of flooring, and a sufficiently long battery time to cover the entire house. These are the most basic yet important consumer needs.”

That difference between homes in Samsung’s native Korea and those abroad underlines the importance of tailoring appliances to meet a wide range of consumer needs. As Lim noted, when developing the Bespoke Jet™, Samsung prioritized cleaning performance and runtime while also ensuring that the device would deliver on two key aspects of vacuum design that are becoming increasingly important to today’s consumers: hygiene and weight.

“Korean consumers are largely satisfied with suction power, brushes and battery performance, but what sets them apart from other consumers is that they are very sensitive about vacuum weight,” said Lim. “They prefer strong yet lightweight vacuums.”

The Bespoke Jet™’Multi-layered Filtration System traps up to 99.9999% of dust particles.

With consumers at home and abroad showing increased interest in hygiene due to COVID-19, Samsung equipped the Bespoke Jet™ with a Multi-layered Filtration System that traps up to 99.9999% of dust particles[1]. As air is sucked in, the main cyclone separates large dust particles, which are picked up in a metal mesh grille filter. Samsung’s patented Jet Cyclone and micro filter then catch fine dust particles. Finally, a fine dust filter traps micro dust[2] that can easily escape.

To illustrate how the Bespoke Jet™ caters to regional differences, vacuum development team member, Hun Kang noted how people in certain countries are accustomed to wearing shoes at home, while others take them off. “Those who live in countries where people are expected to take their shoes off inside often live in houses with wooden floors,” said Kang. “We generally see high demand in these countries for wet mops.”

To meet their needs, Kang added, the Bespoke Jet™ comes with the Spray Spinning Sweeper[3]. Its antibacterial mop pads are reusable, and it enables users to manually spray as much water as they want without worrying about the mop pads drying out.

Hygiene Is King

When designing the Bespoke Jet™, Samsung paid particularly close attention to details and features that would deliver a powerful and hygienic clean. This commitment to cleanliness is reflected in features like the vacuum’s All-in-One Clean Station™, which automatically empties the dustbin. As team member Daon Lee explained, this convenient feature is becoming increasingly more important.

Jongkuk Lim introduces the Bespoke Jet™’s powerful All-in-One Clean Station™.

“A few years ago, only a handful of robot vacuum cleaners could automatically empty their dustbin,” said Lee. “However, since the introduction of the Samsung Jet Clean Station™, this capability has become a core function of vacuum cleaners, including stick models. With the growing need for hygienic products, being able to automatically empty the dustbin is no longer a ‘bonus’ for vacuums; it’s a key purchasing factor.”

The All-in-One Clean Station™ automatically charges and empties the dustbin of the Bespoke Jet™ when docked for utmost convenience.

When the Bespoke Jet™ is docked, the All-in-One Clean Station™ automatically begins charging the device and empties the dustbin so users don’t have to. When emptying the dustbin, Samsung’s innovative Air Pulse technology[4] utilizes strong air pressure to prevent fine dust particles from scattering in the air, keeping living spaces clean and hygienic.

Lightweight Yet Powerful

Suction power was another key consideration for Lim and his team. The enhancements the team introduced in the new model maximize suction power by amplifying efficiency.

“The Bespoke Jet™ is equipped with a more advanced Digital Inverter Motor that is faster, smaller and more efficient than a typical motor, and also has a longer-lasting battery life,” said Lim. “This lighter motor produces incredible suction power. It’s capable of rotating at up to 135,000rpm, which is a significant improvement over the previous model’s maximum speed of 110,000rpm.”

The vacuum’s suction power is bolstered by Jet Cyclone technology. Equipped with 27 air holes that minimize suction loss, the feature’s high-efficiency multi-cyclone structure creates an optimal air path that reduces air resistance around the dustbin and hygienically traps fine dust particles sucked into the vacuum.

Lim also shed some light on how Samsung complemented the Bespoke Jet™’s powerful innovations with a lightweight design that sets a new standard for stick vacuums to follow. “At just 2.44kg, the upgraded Bespoke Jet™ boasts the lightest weight in its class, thanks to its high-performance, extremely lightweight motor that was developed through close collaboration between Samsung’s motor development team and others,” said Lim. “We also reduced the diameter of a drum inside the Slim Action Brush from 62mm to 44mm to make the brush even lighter and reduce wrist fatigue while cleaning.”

The Bespoke Jet™’s innovative internal design makes the device lighter than ever before for more comfortable cleaning experiences.

Convenient Cleaning

Samsung went to great lengths to equip the Bespoke Jet™ with an eye-catching design which are both sleek and intuitive. The result of the team’s hard work is a vacuum that not only blends seamlessly with consumers’ décor, but also features key enhancements that maximize convenience.

As Lim explained, enhancing the vacuum’s form required careful coordination with Samsung’s design team to explore how to offer users more convenience while maintaining the device’s elegant aesthetic. “Through a series of discussions with the design team, we were able to come up with the All-in-One Clean Station™, which can hold the stick cleaner without a separate cradle,” said Lim. “This enables the vacuum to look much sleeker while also taking up less space.

Yoonkyung Cho shares the process of trial-and-error the team went through to develop the most optimal brush design for the Bespoke Jet™.

Other convenience-focused enhancements included the decision to add a soft roller to the Jet Dual Brush to pick up large dust particles from hard floors, and equip the vacuum with an intuitive LCD display and a long-lasting detachable battery. For the soft roller, team member Yoonkyung Cho explained: “We created several mockups in different styles to develop the most optimal design that would allow the front part of the brush to move in a natural way.

The Bespoke Jet™’s intuitive digital LCD display provides users with all the information they need at a glance.

“The intuitive digital LCD display allows users to monitor key indicators such as runtime for each mode, charging time, maintenance and repair instructions for easy control and management, while the lightweight detachable battery guarantees up to 120 minutes of runtime,” noted Cho. “This means that users no longer need to worry about their vacuum’s battery running out while cleaning.”

Yoonkyung Cho showcases the Bespoke Jet™’s portable and easy-to-use design.

Certified Performance

The Bespoke Jet™ has been recognized by various globally-respected testing and certification agencies for its excellent performance in trapping fine dust and allergens, including Germany’s SLG Prüf- und Zertifizierungs GmbH and the British Allergy Foundation (BAF).

The vacuum received the former’s highest five-star rating for trapping 99.999% of fine dust between 0.5-4.2㎛ in size, and was recognized by the latter for reducing exposure to allergens. In addition, the Clean Station™ is certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for reducing dust emissions by up to 400 times when the dustbin is emptied.

Lim noted that the pandemic complicated the vacuum’s development process, but the team couldn’t be happier with the final result.

“Working from home was not easy,” said Lim. “However, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, which limited our development activities, each of our team members worked hard towards a common goal. I am thankful to all of them for developing such a wonderful product that eventually received such excellent evaluations from external organizations.”

Innovating For Consumers

Daon Lee shares insights into the innovative journey the Bespoke Jet™ has gone on so far.

In previous years, the cordless vacuum cleaner market has been primarily focused on product specifications, such as suction, running time and device weight, but Samsung and Lim’s team have been innovating in this space with the introduction of the Clean Station™ in 2020. Since its introduction, the second most important buying factor in the Korean vacuum market is now the Clean Station™, with a new emphasis having been placed on user convenience through the automatic emptying of the dustbin.

Going forward, the team’s focus has shifted from mechanical engineering to ergonomics in product design. “We plan to explore and develop new technologies and novel functionalities throughout the entire vacuum use process, from the very start of cleaning to the storing of the device,” noted Lim. “We will put our best foot forward to genuinely surprise our customers and lead rapid development in the vacuum cleaner market.”

With hygiene-forward lifestyles now here to stay, Lim and his team have a clear idea of what the future development of the Bespoke Jet™ and other vacuum products should look like. “My ambition is to provide the most optimal cleaning solutions based on consumers’ lifestyles that analyze cleaning patterns with the help of AI technologies,” affirmed Lim.

Amidst ever-increasing competition in the global consumer electronics market, Samsung is seeking to become the world’s best vacuum maker through endless development of their core technologies to ensure optimized performance, improved hygiene functionality and optimized user convenience, all at the best possible quality.

[1] Tested internally based on IEC 62885-2, CL.5.11 using the Jet mode. Results may vary depending on actual usage.

[2] Refers to particles in the size range of 0.5 to 4.2µm.

[3] Brush and accessory options may vary by region.

[4] Tested based on IEC 62885-2, CL.5.11 by Samsung. Results may vary depending on actual usage.