Lava lamps

This is the history summary of lava lamps off the official website.

As well as the traditional lava lamps (which range from about £40 up to £80) the company now do a selection of mood lighting and projectors. This shows that mood lighting is popular.

The projector seems like a bit more of a novelty than the mood lighting, but still interesting to see.

Official Website: http://www.mathmos.com/lava-lamps-uk-6494-0.html

I also found this website that talks about the history of the lava lamp and and how the were patented etc.. http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A641224 

I found this paragraph particularly interesting 

"At their peak, more than seven million Lava Lamps were sold around the world each year, but by the early 1970s the fad had run its course and sales fell dramatically. By 1976, sales were down to 200 lamps per week, a mere fraction of what they had been a few years before. By the late 1980s, however, sales began to rebound. As style makes began to ransack the sixties for inspiration, Lava Lamps came back. Formerly dollar-a-piece flea-market finds, original 1960s Lava Lamps (especially those with paisley, pop art or homemade trippy motifs on their bases) became real collectibles in the late 1980s, selling in chic boutiques for more than a brand new one. And speaking of new ones, they weren't hurting for business either. By 1998 manufacturers in England and the United States were selling more than two million of the lamps per year".

This shows that they were huge during the 60s and when they were first produced and then became really big again around 2000 (which i can remember) when the 60s trend returned. 

The website also states that, 

"Lava Brand Motion Lamp sales peaked in the late '60s when slow-swirling coloured wax happened to coincide perfectly with the undulating aesthetics of psychedelia. They were advertised as 'head trips that offered a motion for every emotion".

I think this is a really good summary of the lava lamp and even if some people think they are hideous etc, with the right marketing they took off. I think if we are going with the glow in the dark wallpaper/mood panels we just need to find a catchy slogan or saying like the one above that gives our market a reason to buy or product. 

One of the main reasons they seemed to have took off is due to them being trendy. So i think whatever it is we design, we need to work strictly to a trend in order for the product to be desirable 

jordan