Did you ever wonder how were invented the frames? And above all who invented them?
Today we tell you their story.
It is said that Seneca used spheres full of water to enlarge images and see everything better but the first evidence regarding the use of glasses comes back to Nerone who used a monocle with emerald gemstone to see the gladiator games. In any case, the first people to work with glass were the Greek who discovered their optical functions.
To a later time, in 1100, the Serenissima decided to keep the art of glass production a secret and relegate the furnaces to Murano island (Venice) because they could not be placed in cities like Cadore or Carnia completely built in wood.
The first documents regarding the invention of glasses, still existing, are kept in the Capitolo Room of San Nicolò cloister in Treviso. These documents concern a painting of the cardinal Ugone di Provenza writing a letter: this was one of the first visible evidence regarding the use of glasses.
In some capitularies of the Venetian arts the glasses were mentioned and the first to obtain business with them were the Venetian merchants. Their main customers were the monks who consumed their eyesight by coping texts under the candle light.
In 1262 Roger Bacon discovered the refraction principles through experiments with glasses and mirrors but he was accused of heresy and imprisoned.
20 years later, the glasses became real frames because Alessandro della Spina from Pisa reproduced and divulged the glass discovery that remained a secret since then. He joined the two lenses with a small bridge and let them wear to a monk.
The use of the frames spread in ‘600 when the aristocrats of the time shown off them as jewels.
At the end of ‘800 the frames assumed the current form because two temples were finally attached to the front.
In 1917 Giuseppe Ratti invented the first sunglasses for aviators and pilots which became a viral phenomenon when Sam Foster begun to sell some cheaper sunglass models at the beach in Atlantic City.
From the ’60 on glasses and sunglasses are a real fashion accessory to express its own personality.
How would the world be without a wonderful pair of glasses to wear?
Choose your frame among our beautiful collections Coco Song, Robert Rüdger, La Matta, Kaos, Oliviero Contini and Genesis Easy to express your personality as you can.
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