Ever since completing a product design degree in the 1990's, Ben Jarvis... son of the Stylophone's original inventor, Brian, had been thinking about the possibility of doing some kind of re-design of the Stylophone. The idea of some new iteration of the product was knocked about as a family project for some years before finally, in 2002, an appearance by David Bowie on the Jonathan Ross show, promoting his 'Heathen' album and playing the Stylophone live, became the catalyst for action. As David Bowie and Jonathan Ross sat there chatting about the Stylophone on prime time TV for five minutes it became obvious there was still enough public affection for this little 'box of buzz' to do something commercial with it.

In January 2003, after discussing the idea with both Brian Jarvis and Burt Coleman, Ben Jarvis and his long time friend and electronics guru James MacFarlane, re-incorporated Dubreq as a limited company. The journey from there to a new Stylophone was FAR longer and more depressing than either Ben or James could have imagined.

Initially Ben and James hoped to design and launch the ' S2' a significantly improved and modernised miniature synthesizer, based on the concept of the Stylophone, as their own product. Seeking funding to get this idea off the ground seemed to be close to impossible however several very costly dead-ends and broken promises saw the project almost completely abandoned by 2006. A note to wise business angels... if someone comes to you with a proposal to re-launch a popular 1970's cult product at the start of a boom in retro products... bite their hand off, you won't get another chance!

In summer 2006 in a final last-ditch attempt to get a product on sale, Ben approached Re:creation PLC, a large toy and game distributor with the idea of launching some kind of Stylophone -related game. Whilst the game idea wasn't great... Re:creation did thankfully see the potential in re-launching the Stylophone itself and a licensing agreement was signed shortly afterwards.

It was decided early on that, rather than risk going straight into launching the more expensive 'S2', a limited 're-launch' of the original Stylophone was a good way to 'remind the public' of the Stylophone and generate some much needed funding for the development of the S2.

Within a few months an initial prototype of a digital Stylophone had been created and the ' S1' project was underway. The S1 went on sale (delayed 2 months by problems with Chinese toy recalls blocking up the ports) in November 2007. The initial boat-load of over 30,000 units sold out across the UK in less than 2 weeks and it immediately became obvious that initial sales predictions were hugely pessimistic.

By early 2009 The S1 had broken the ¼ million units sold barrier and was still selling well making it one of the most successful UK gift products of the 21st century. It was clear the public wanted more, so a multi-step product plan was laid out with even more Stylophone products in development for release over coming years.

With the launch of the Stylophone Beatbox™ in October 2009 the Stylophone product family is already growing. There are now designs on the table for two more Stylophone products due for release in 2010 and 2011 and hopefully it won't stop there. Recent use of the Stylophone by artists such as Little Boots and the Brett Domino Trio have further boosted the popularity of the Stylophone, and it even seems it's gaining cult status in Japan as well, a market barely touched by the original 1970's product.

The future certainly seems to be bright for the 'greatest little instrument of the century' in this century as well as the last.