Available to book
Tom Lawton helps organisations think differently about creativity, innovation, and sustainable design. A British inventor and artist behind Million Mile Light, Uplift, and Wonder, Tom holds a granted British patent and wrote An Inventor's Tale.
Tom Lawton is a British inventor, artist, and storyteller whose talks explore imagination, invention, and what it takes to keep creating when you can't see how the story ends.
With a degree in product design, Tom has been developing sustainable products since 2003. His inventions include Million Mile Light, a battery-free running light powered by the runner, and Firewinder, a wind-powered light that won a US Green Dot Award. He spent seven years developing Wonder, a kinetic sculpture that moves continuously yet appears to stand still.
His biomimicry work has led to a granted British patent and an idea he calls Gentle Force: achieving meaningful change with the least necessary force. Tom applies it to engineering, sustainability, creativity, and leadership. Wonder is now heading for a permanent home at the Palestine Museum of Natural History in Bethlehem, a journey called The Bethlehem Quest that's also being developed as a documentary. His book, An Inventor's Tale, came out in 2026.
Audiences come away with practical ways to spot ideas in everyday situations, a different way to approach change without forcing it, and a clearer sense of how to take the next step when the path isn't obvious. His delivery is candid, funny, and highly visual.
For events built around creativity, innovation, or sustainable design, Tom brings stories grounded in things he has actually built.
Topics, sessions and talks
What happens when a life built around imagination doesn't go according to plan? British inventor and artist Tom Lawton tells the story of a lifetime spent making things, taking risks, succeeding and failing. From childhood inventions and award-winning products to Wonder, a granted biomimicry patent and an invitation to take his work to Bethlehem, this is a funny, candid and highly visual exploration of creativity, resilience and the courage to keep going when you don't know what happens next. It's about remaining curious enough to find the next step. A path appears as you walk it.
What if the most effective way to change something isn't to push harder? Drawing on a lifetime of invention, biomimicry and a granted British patent inspired by natural movement, Tom Lawton explores an idea he calls Gentle Force: achieving meaningful change with the least necessary force. From engineering and sustainability to creativity, leadership and human relationships, Tom asks what becomes possible when we stop trying to overpower problems and start paying closer attention to how living systems actually work. Gentle Force, intelligently applied.
What happens to us when we stop long enough to wonder? Tom Lawton spent seven years developing Wonder, a kinetic sculpture that moves continuously yet appears somehow still. Its journey has taken it from an inventor's imagination to extraordinary places, and now towards a permanent home in Bethlehem. Using Wonder as both an artwork and a way of thinking, Tom explores curiosity, perception, creativity and our human capacity to see the familiar differently. This is a highly visual talk about making space for uncertainty, asking better questions and rediscovering something adults are remarkably good at losing: wonder.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Tom Lawton builds his talks around the things he has made, using Wonder, his kinetic sculpture, as both an artwork and a way of thinking, and telling the stories behind inventions such as Million Mile Light in a candid, funny, and highly visual style.
Tom Lawton specialises in creativity and invention through An Inventor's Tale, change and biomimicry through Gentle Force, and curiosity, perception, and uncertainty through Wonder. He holds a degree in product design and a granted British patent for his biomimicry work, and his inventions include Million Mile Light, Uplift, and Firewinder, which won a US Green Dot Award.
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