Cressida Granger

Cressida Granger is a British entrepreneur. She is the owner and managing director of Mathmos, the lighting company founded by Edward Craven Walker, inventor of the lava lamp.

Career

Granger is a History of Art Graduate (BA University of Manchester). She then became a vintage design dealer, specialising in furniture and lighting from the 1960s and early 1970s. During this period, she started buying lava lamps from the original factory in Poole Dorset and selling them at Camden Market.

Granger was offered the opportunity to take over the original lava lamp business by inventor and owner Edward Craven Walker and his wife Christine. Granger and her business partner David Mulley spent the next ten years repositioning and growing the Mathmos. They bought out the Craven Walkers over several years, with Edward Craven Walker remaining a consultant until his sad death in 2000; Christine remains close to Mathmos.

Mathmos grew strongly during the 1990s, with British-made lava lamps finding a worldwide audience. Mathmos won a host of Business and Marketing Awards, including two Queens Awards for Export.

In 1998, David Mulley left Mathmos, and Granger became Mathmos's sole owner and Managing Director. The following year, she was on the shortlist of four for the Verve Cliquot Business Woman of the Year Award. Granger spent the next decade diversifying the business into different ambient lighting products with a team of internal and external designers. This won Mathmos new customers and several prestigious design awards.

Mathmos retained its British manufacture of the original lava lamp range, gently expanding it to include new models. Around 2010, Granger decided to narrow Mathmos' focus to its quality lava lamp range and to focus on D2C sales directly to the consumer. Mathmos now directly supplies customers all over Europe with its much-enlarged range, from small candle-powered lava lamps to giant floor-standing versions.

In 2023, Mathmos celebrated its 60th anniversary by opening a factory shop in its original home in Poole, Dorset. Granger and the Mathmos team also worked with five creatives, including Duran Duran, Rankin and Sabine Marcelis, to produce limited edition customised versions of its classic 1963 design Astro.

Creative industry activities

Granger was part of the Government Innovation Review Committee with James Dyson and Terrance Conran in 2003. She has sat on selection and judging panels for various design bodies including 100% Light, D&AD Awards and Design Nation Awards. Granger lectures occasionally at Ravensbourne Design College on entrepreneurship in design businesses. Granger is a director of the Made in Britain (campaign), a campaign seeking to establish a marque to identify British made goods.

Business and marketing awards

Queens Awards for Export 2000 and 1997

Veuve Cliquot Woman of the Year Finalist 1999
Fast Track 100 (3rd fastest growing manufacturer 1999)
Yell Award best commercial website 1997
Design Week Best Consumer website 1998

Design awards

Red Dot Awards: 2006 (Grito), 2002 (Tumbler), 2001 (Bubble)

Gift Magazine Design Homewares winner 2005 (Airswitch tc)
Design Week commendations: 2004 (Airswitch Az), 2003 (Aduki), 2002 (Tumbler), 2001 (Fluidium)
House and Garden best consumer product 2004. (Airswitch Az)
Form 2001 Award (Tumbler)
Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) 2001 (Bubble)
D&AD commendation 2001 (Bubble)
Light Magazine Decorative Lighting Award 2001 (Bubble)
FX Magazine finalist best lighting product 2000 (Fluidium)

References

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