LOVIN' THE LAVA

Iv'e always loved sixties design, growing up in the space age, I was surrounded by all kinds of new and exciting items such as spherical tvs. suspended chairs and of course lava lamps. Now fifty years old, Edward Craven Walker made the first lamp in 1963 and they are still going strong today. After a relaunch of the company in the early 90's, now renamed 'Mathmos' from the famous semi-sentient goo in the film Barbarella, lava lamps turned up everywhere and I was finally able to buy one for myself.

Like all the best inventions, lava lamps are extremely simple. A spot light heats up a special mix of oil and water and the convection currents cause the oily substance to rise to the top of the bottle. Cooling, they descend to the bottom, all the while illuminated by the lamp. Combinations of coloured oil and fluid make dramatic displays of light and movement.

The white lamp is a modern variant, but the green lamp is the classic Astro shape from the sixties, which used a 'Tree Top' orange juice bottle as its container! The large 3 foot high Rocket on the right has a large whisky bottle as its basis. This is one of the most extravagant things ive ever bought second hand, costing me £150 from Daves shop on Shakespeare Street in Southport! It was a bit battered and dented (much like me after I admitted to my wife i'd bought it) and was missing the little 'bullet' off the top. But after writing to Mathmos, they kindly sent me a new one, free! This model is no longer in production, so it can be considered a design classic!

Like any good design, Lava Lamps spawned imitators. Among the cheap and cheerful lokalikes which flourished on the market, I found a rather nice Rocket lamp. Rather than use 'lava' it has a small agitator in the base of a container filled with water, which spins plastic pellets into a nice whirlpool shape. I have the original black one, now not working and a newer white one, as you can see on the video.