www.lavalamphistory.com | The History of the lava lamp & lava lamp history | 1990s The lava lamp relaunches as Mathmos.

Below: The 1990s saw a massive revival in the world's fascination with the lava lamp and its forthcoming appeal was spotted by two entrepeneurs Cressida Granger and David Mulley. Crestworth would become known as Mathmos, named after the bubbling force taken from the cult late 1960s film Barbarella staring Jane Fonda. New designs were launched for the 1990s such as Telstar and Lunar, which draw influences from the space age appeal of the lamps. Both designs became signature Mathmos designs with Telstar being a popular model today, still in production. Lunar introduced in the 1990s, presented a giant floor-standing rocket lava lamp which in turn has become a cult iconic design of its time with a dedicated collecting community. The Nordic design of the past, featuring tubular bottles became known as Jet, and was offered in the later part of the period in white, black and in bright colours with matching coloured liquid within. Highlights from the 1990s, include the Flocked Limited Edition Astro lamps (limited to one thousand of each colour), the Millenium Edition Telstar and the 3-IN-1 Astro. The 1990s also saw the return of fibre optic designs such as the Jupiter 2 and Fibre Space to name a few models created. The 1990s even had their own aromatherapy light just like the vintage years with the introduction of Sputnik offered in three metal colour finishes. The 1990s saw Mathmos pioneer three generations of Faze technology lights, impressive liquid-free colour changing lights.
The 3-IN-1 Astro featured a white wax Astro lamp with three colourful light bulbs, allowing the end user to simply change the light bulb to change the colour of the wax. The concept of different coloured wax would return in 2010 with Smart Astro, however replacing traditional light bulbs with colour changing LEDs to go beyond static colours by offering the added element of colour-changing wax.
One of the most interesting aspects of the 1990s is that they also had their own distinctive branding and feel, with vibrant colours, fresh graphic design, influences of manga to create fun characters that became part of Mathmos' later 1990s identity. These fun whimsical inspired characters such as: Mathmos Man, Astro Baby, Glitter Baby were seen extensively on packaging, company materials, fan club items and even as lava lamp toppers, which would be placed on the top of the lamp to customise one's very own lamp. The 1990s were a period of extreme revival for the Mathmos lava lamp worldwide and an important part in the history of the lava lamp. Edward Craven Walker, the inventor of the lava lamp remained as a consultant to Mathmos, until his sad death in 2000.