We spoke with Tom Lawton, inventor of innovative wind-powered outdoor light, the
Firewinder, to find out his tips on being an inventor, what he's working on next (hint: eco fireworks???) and what he thinks about nuclear energy, eating meat and humanity's chances of survival.
Ooffoo: Hi Tom, thanks for talking with us. First off, how does one become an inventor? Do you need to be an engineer?
Tom Lawton: Hi Ooffoo, it's a pleasure to meet you. Personally, I became an inventor by accident, I could have been many things, but I just followed what I enjoyed the most; it was never really a firm life plan. At least, I don't recall saying to myself as a kid that I specifically wanted to be an inventor. Though I did recognise my passion for drawing and making things at an early age, so too did I enjoy thinking differently - I have never been one to follow or think like the crowd. I guess it's a role I have evolved into.
The obvious place to start is with imagination, without that you're never going to think in an original way. You have to dare to dream and be prepared to reject most of your ideas, but that's the fun - Imagineering is what I heard someone once call it. It definitely helps if you're optimistic. People so often seem to create their own barriers through negativity and pessimism and not allow themselves to dream. Then, if you think hard enough and ask the right questions, you start to invite inventive ideas.
But that doesn't make the inventor, it's the 'doing' that counts, as so many people have ideas but nothing comes of them because they don't believe they can make them happen and they don't do anything about it. Inventors are not born with a special skill set; it's nurtured by learning from everything around. Every product and invention that exists has a story behind it, by unravelling the development story behind the world around us we can start to understand how to create the world we want to see.
In order to make your idea real you might need to be an engineer, but that all depends on the complexity of your invention and the sphere in which you're thinking. You will, no matter what, have to work relentlessly at it.
Nothing comes easy - even if you have all the money in the world you might struggle and fail.
Cash is always something I have been short of, but hard work comes naturally. I have a degree in Product Design and years of experience working on lots of technical and creative disciplines - the result of that is that some of my projects are quite heavy on engineering and technology. But that's where good design practise comes in, refining a design solution to be no more over-engineered than it needs to be. Less is more and simplicity is always key.
O: How did you come up with the idea of the Firewinder?
TL: Design to me is very much a form of self expression and Firewinder started out as a kind of art project, I wanted to experiment with creating lighting effects from the wind - it was November time in 2001 and the nights were creeping in - I wanted to create something that lifted people's moods in bad weather. I had also been searching for a project that would allow me to utilise all I had learned about minimising the environmental impact of my designs in a movement towards sustainable product design. As the days flowed and thoughts transpired I began to visualise a spiralling light that breathed with the wind, reacting to variations in wind speeds with delicate glows and mesmerising forms. Most importantly, the effect had to be an upward spiral. Slowly and surely Firewinder came to life. Twenty-odd prototypes later and I have a product. A kind of earth powered art that anyone can afford - and all you need is some wind.
O: What's next for Firewinder? Any exclusive news or previews for us?TL: At the end of June, we're lined up to do a small installation in the Circus & Theatre Field at
Glastonbury Festival, which will be tremendous fun. If the weather turns bad at night then Firewinders will be the one place to be! Do come and say hi!
Then we do
Harvest at Jimmy's Farm in September with a few gigs in between.
After that we're planning a large scale installation with over a hundred Firewinders, running for two months from October somewhere in the Cotswolds. Details coming soon - you'll be the first to know!
On a product front, we have been working hard on a couple of additions to our line up, but for the time being I'll leave these under wraps - but as a hint, I'd like to think that we'll be the first people in the world to be able to offer eco-fireworks, using renewable energy, reusable time and time again with no unwanted side effects (e.g. exploding crap into the air, using nasty chemicals and scaring cats). However, the buzz is still building around our flagship product Firewinder Original and as a small company we have plenty to be getting on with. The future looks green and bright!
Oh, I did just put in an application to the 'artists taking the lead' competition run by The Arts Council. This is for a giant Firewinder that uses real fire. Fingers crossed it makes it to the next round :)
O: What & who inspires you?
TL: The Natural World is an endless resource of inspiration. Just take a walk. I am often inspired by strangers too.
O: You are stranded on a desert island: which book, person, song & luxury item would you want to have?TL: Book: I am not a reader, other than countless texts, blogs, reports and research. And I simply don't have the patience for other people's fiction unless it's in conversation; I already live in a world of my own so, it would have to be a book with blank pages where I could draw.
Person: Mick Dundee. Well, he could handle himself in the Outback and you never know what trouble you might run into. I'd be like Wally.
Song: Goodness, if you only had one song it would have to be quite special. Erm? Probably Mausam by Nitin Sawhney, with Reena Bhardwaj on vocals, she was the girl who played Glastonbury in 2003 and took away everyone's breath with her hauntingly beautiful vocals.
Luxury Item: It couldn't be anything else other than a Firewinder (
www.firewinder.com) of course. The perfect compliment to an off shore breeze and a desert island sunset - especially hanging off a palm tree! I'd probably also take my BubbleScope (see
www.tomlawton.com) to capture the experience.
O: What do you believe is the biggest problem humanity faces?
TL: Jealousy, greed and selfishness as combined human traits are what challenges man the most - these attributes lead to so many problems including fear, war and over consumption. Thus, we are ourselves are the biggest problem of all. So long as there is enormous inequality in wealth there will be huge divide. Everything is a balance.
These traits combined with predictions of unprecedented population growth mean that the pressure placed on the Earth's precious resources will be nearly insurmountable.
Therefore, we're got to get our sh!t together quickly and change our way of thinking, before everything runs out of control.
O: Can we solve it? And if so, how?
TL: We need one of two things to happen in order for mankind to wake-up and realise that he is already living in paradise.
1. Aliens to land and present the truth that we're not alone - this will blow our collective minds and make us all feel like brothers.
2. A most crazy natural disaster - to simply shift our collective priorities and realise how fragile our existence is.
The result of either one of these things would (hopefully) be a united faith and belief between people that transcends where organised religion has failed.
O: What do you love most about humanity?
TL: I simply love it when you experience kindness from people you don't know. This works both ways. The more you do for others you don't know the better your karmic stance in the world. You invite good things to happen. Everybody responds well to kindness.
O: Are you on twitter?
TL: I make the occasional tweet; you can find me
@tomlawtonO: Finally, would you give us your comments for our debates:
1) Does Britain need Nuclear?
TL: Maybe? I don't have all the facts and this is too big a subject for me to comment on with any authority. I certainly think that nuclear research is an important area of study as we have no doubt only scratched the surface of what is really achievable - I am aware that the most progressive scientists are now turning Einstein's theories on theirs heads and I can't help but applaud such brilliant minds in pursuit of the big answers, of which Nuclear research has a role to play. But, in the mid term (next 50 years) I'd rather we concentrate on reducing our energy consumption and look to developing and perfecting renewable forms of energy only.
2) Can an enlightened society eat meat?
TL: Definitely! But, you've got to stop buying anything that isn't free range or sustainably sourced. As far as I'm concerned, that's the answer. Eat less meat, only buy quality meat and never buy meat from any source where you can't guarantee it hasn't been factory farmed. I eat meat and I love it. My top recommendation is Jimmy's Farm (
www.jimmysfarm.com). Jimmy is a good friend and is about to become my brother-in-law.
I've supported him since he started farming rare breeds.
O: Thanks Tom, best of luck and keep us posted.
TL: My pleasure, thanks Ooffoo!