The Mathmos story
1963-1988
Edward Craven-Walker first saw the beginnings of the idea that became the Lava-lamp in a pub in the Dorset, England. It was an egg timer designed by Mr. Dunnet in which a blob of liquid rose when the egg was ready. Mr. Walker then spent years developing a formula for a lamp based on this principal. Originally Tree Top orange squash bottles were used for the lava liquids.
The lava lamp or ”Astro lamp” as it was then called captured the public’s imagination and became one of the defining products of the 1960s. It appeared in many films and broadcasts of the time including the cult TV series The Prisoner.
Mr. Walker was a great entrepreneur and individual and during his life he was a world war two pilot, an accountant, the founder of a naturist camp and the director of naturist underwater films. He invited the cast of the famous nude musical “Hair” to visit his home during their West End run and he was still flying his helicopter well into his 70s.
During the late 1970s and 1980s the Zeitgeist moved on and production of the lava lamp sank back to very small numbers.
1989-1998
In 1989 Cressida Granger and David Mulley, two young antique dealers took over the firm. Cressida had been selling both vintage and new lava lamps at London's Camden market alongside 1960s vintage products and knew there was a large demand for them. Edward Craven Walker, the inventor of the lava lamp, having kept the firm ticking over since its hey day in the 1970s was happy to do a deal with them to run the company and buy it over time.
Cressida and David re-branded the original lava lamp range bringing it up to date whilst retaining and building on the quality. The name of the company was changed from Crestworth to Mathmos in 1992 after the bubbling force in the cult 1960s film Barbarella.
It was exactly the right moment and demand for the original lava lamp was so strong the company doubled in size every year. A number of new products, designed in house, were launched during this period including Telstar and Space Projector which have become Mathmos classics and remain in the range today. Mathmos graphics, also created in house, were an essential component to the brand and won the company both design and commercial awards.
In 1998 David decided to move on and Cressida took over as sole owner of the company. Edward Craven-Walker remained a consultant at Mathmos, he particularly contributed to the improvement of the unique Mathmos lava lamp formula.
1998-present
Cressida Granger took over the sole ownership of Mathmos in 1998 and embarked on a period of reinvention for the company.
A programme of new product development was started and the Mathmos Design Studio was established in London. New product manufacturing was moved overseas in order to offer more competitive prices in order to compete more effectively with the inevitable copies that would come. The original lava lamp production remained in the UK so that we could maintain total control of our formulation and quality. We also felt as we do today that there is something unique and valuable in making the product you invented in the same place for so long; 46 years so far.
In 1999 Cressida was a finalist for the Verve Cliquot Business Woman of the year award and in 2000 Mathmos won its second Queens Award for Export. In 2000 Mathmos launched “Fluidium” by the renowned designer Ross Lovegrove which was photographed by Rankin and signalled a move into more design orientated direction for Mathmos. Sadly that same year Edward Craven Walker, inventor of the lava lamp passed away. He had remained a consultant with Mathmos and a champion of the firm he founded until his death.
Mathmos now concentrates on inventing new light technologies and designs that engage and delight people. Some Mathmos products are developed totally in house by Mathmos Design Studio like “aduki” or “thaw” and others are collaborations with external designers like “Airswitch Az” with the Azumi’s. Designers are always free to approach us with ideas for new Mathmos products.