Mathmos Astro Lava Lamp

A Mathmos Astro lava lamp as sold in the 1990s, red wax rising through violet liquid between a silver cap and a flared silver base. Edward Craven Walker invented the Astro in 1963, and his company, first called Crestworth and renamed Mathmos in 1992, has made it continuously since, still at its factory in Poole, Dorset. It earns a place here as the original lava lamp: the tapered bottle and rocket-like base are the shape that put moving light on bedside tables for six decades and counting.