www.lavalamphistory.com | The History of the lava lamp & lava lamp history | LED Designs & Mathmos Modern.
Below: Since the year 2000, Mathmos formed the Mathmos Design Studio, which would create award winning in-house industrial design to create innovative lighting design and collaborate with external designers in the introduction of new products. Whilst these products are beautiful, their unique quality is the way they allow people to engage in light in a completely new way, just like the lava lamp did in the 1960s and the 1970s. The first of such highly innovative products was Bubble launched by Mathmos in 2000 and designed by Aaron Rincover. Bubble presents a silicon ball of light, that is cool to the touch, tactile and totally intriguing at a first glance. A mere simple squeeze will turn Bubble on, replacing the need for traditional archaic switches. Bubble is completely bulb-free, replacing traditional light bulbs with LEDs. In fact, a product like Bubble could have only been created by utilising LEDs for the appropriate thermal envelope. Bubble by Mathmos was the first product to be marketed as a "Mathmos Mobile", just like Tumbler and Aduki, and just like a mobile phone it can be used cordlessly for hours and featured a splash-proof seal for outdoor use. Bubble sent Mathmos on a train of thought and inspired a future wave of LED powered kinetic lights, paired with innovative industrial design.
The second design, Tumbler presented a glass rectangular interactive LED light. The wildly popular Aduki, inspired by seaworn pebbles in form, and named after the bean used in Asian cusine, presents a teardrop of colour changing and pausable light. Aduki would later become Aduki Ni, a totally reflective version of the Aduki. Beautiful designs such as the Lunar and Solar Eclipse added the element of reflection to create ethereal jewel like colour changing LED lights. Poplight and Jelly added even more fun and whimsical creations to the Mathmos range. Contemporary Mathmos LED designs such as Blob & Flow and Bump Lantern add the element of interactivity via touch or gestures to the design. Solar Moons by Mathmos add a pair of glass spherical lights the range of LED lights with an environmental perspective by using solar light replacing batteries or traditional mains power.
In the 2000s, Mathmos also entered two new product categories: Airswitch and Candlelight. Mathmos entry to candlelight introduced beautiful magical lighting designs that change the way one can interact with candlelight. For example Thaw, is a DIY ice candle kit which allows one to freeze a tubular sculpture of ice and watch it melt with stunning kinetic lighting effects via a tea-light candle, perfect for a dinner table conversation piece. One interesting candlelight from Mathmos, Revolution presents a spooky spinning graphic candlelight that is powered by two tealights. Revolution's mode of operation reflects the principle behind vintage Mistrolites but replacing the light bulb with tea-lights. In 2009, Mathmos introduced Fireflow, innovative miniature tea-light candle powered lava lamps that were presented in two designs. 2009 also saw Mathmos reflect upon the history of the lava lamp with a Vintage Lava Lamp Exhibition held in London, with vintage lava lamp designs displayed next to their contemporary models.
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