Biography of Edward Craven Walker

Inventor of the lava lamp

Few people know his name - but probably everyone has indulged in the meditative and contemplative play of shapes of a lava lamp. Edward Craven Walker is its inventor and the idea came to him in the late 1950s / early 1960s in an unusual place. His unique life story is reflected in a fascinating way in his iconic lava lamps. Walker's life offers a unique blend of adventure, ingenuity and cultural influences. At TAGWERC you will learn what led to the birth of one of the most recognizable symbols of the 1960s.

From war pilot to pioneer

Edward Craven Walker, born on July 4, 1918 in Singapore, a former colony of Great Britain, carried out unarmed reconnaissance flights over Germany in a De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito aircraft during the Second World War and took photographs for the Allies. During the war, Walker meets a woman at a British airbase who becomes his first wife. Marjorie Bevan Jones is a volunteer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and keeps a diary during this time, which will be published in 2005 under the title 'Pieces of cake the diary of a wartime WAAF 1940-1942'.

The beginning and end of a passion

After the war, Craven continued to work as a pilot. In his private life, he was a passionate nudist and eventually opened a naturist campsite in Matchams in the English county of Hampshire. His passion for nudity was apparently shared by many, as the campsite became one of the largest in England. His wife Marjorie, however, is less taken with it. Although the couple have three children together, they separate.

Fillings and shapes

One evening after work, Craven visited a pub in New Forest, a small town in the south of England. Here he discovered a kind of machine consisting of an egg timer and a light bulb, also known as a light bulb, which had been made by a guest. Craven was fascinated by its effect and saw potential in it. He set up a workshop in the garden shed and experimented with different materials after work and at weekends: fillings and glass bottles in various shapes. Eventually, he found the perfect shape in the Tree Top orange juice bottle, which ultimately gave the original 'Astra' lava lamp its shape, which it has retained to this day.

Symbol of the 1960s

When form and function worked, Craven founded the Crestworth company. From a small building in the industrial area of Poole, the inventor supplied the world with his object, which provided psychedelic experiences, for 40 years. "If you buy the lamp, you don't need drugs," Craven sums up, adding: "It's like a circle of life. It grows, breaks down, crashes and then it starts all over again."

The lava lamp - Craven's life's work

In the early 1990s, Craven and his now fourth wife Christine Craven Walker entered into a partnership with Cressida Granger and David Mulley. Granger had been selling the lava lamps in her second-hand store in London since the 1980s. In 1992, the company name was changed to 'Mathmos', but the company headquarters in Poole remained and Craven remained a consultant to Mathmos until the end of his life on August 15, 2000.