Who Invented the Lava Lamp and How to Make Lava Lamps

Below are some facts on who invented the lava lamps.  Also you will find information and websites that tell you how to make your own lava lamp at home.

Who invented the lava lamp?

The inventor of the lava lamp was Edward Craven Walker.  The invention began selling around 1963 when the lava lamps first came out and they sold like crazy.  Millions of them sold in the 1960's, 70's. In the 1980's the popularity of the lava lamp began to fade somewhat but in the late 1990's it once again began selling big time.  The story of how Edward Craven Walker came up with the idea and there are several different stories, goes something like this.

Living in Great Britain, Edward Walker who was born in Singapore.  He came up with the idea of a motion lamp and by 1963 he brought the lava lamps also know at that time as Astro Lights to a trade show.  At the trade show it was noticed by a man named Adolph Wertheimer.  In 1965 Wertheimer and his partner Hy Spector purchased the American selling rights from Edward Walker Craven and they produced  the lava lamps from a US company called Lava Manufacturing which still exists today under the name of trademarked name, Lava World.

The reason for the popularity of the lava lamps in the late 60's and 70's was because of the time period for psychedelic drugs which made the lava lamps colors and motions so appealing especially if a person was on hallucinating drugs.  Mr. Walker even once stated "If you buy my lamp, you won't need drugs".  In the 1980's the lava lamp fad dropped off only to be jump started once again in the 1990's in which I personally, even bought 3 of them.

Edward Craven Walker sold his England based company in the 1990's to Cressida Granger whose company named Mathmos still makes lava lamps along with many other cool products.

Edward Craven Walker was born in 1918 and passed away on August 15th 2000 at the age of 82 years old from cancer.