1991 | Mathmos Launches Lunar. The Original Giant Lava Lamp of the 1990s. A Look at Lunar ...

Lunar was one of the very first new lava lamp designs of the early 1990s, back when Mathmos was known as Crestworth Trading. In fact, very early Lunars feature the Crestworth Trading production sticker in red, placed on the base of the rocket lava lamp. However, these are rarely seen. Also early 1990s versions feature a Mathmos production sticker post company name change, these are in keeping with the production stickers seen on the range at the time.

Lunar remained in production till 2002, and due to is beautiful design and size, is the world's most loved lava lamp, in fact it has a cult following. The form of Lunar was designed using french-curves around the bottle shape to create the most aesthetically pleasing form and was inspired by rockets seen in TinTin comics.

Mathmos would revisit the concept of a floor-standing giant lava lamp, using the very same Lunar bottles in 2019. This resulted in the launch of iO, the giant Mathmos lamp of the 2010s and beyond. iO is the successor to the much loved giant Mathmos Lunar floor-standing lava lamp of the the 1990s.

Early imagery of the Mathmos Lunar was a flat sheet advert showing the Mathmos Lunar lava lamp in a set of three, photographed outside in a beach, and placed on rocks, which makes the Lunar lava lamps look like they are ready for take-off. Lunar continued to be produced through the 1990s in a range of limited colour options. Later versions feature the option to unscrew the cap from the top of the lamp. Very little changed in the production and design of Lunar over the years. The cap is made from spun aluminium and the base cone is also spun with three cast metal legs attached.

Additional Note: Prototype versions of the Mathmos Lunar feature a far shallower base cone.