Google Doodle honours Altina Schinasi, designer of iconic cat-eye eyeglass frame
Schinasi was an American Sculptor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, window dresser, designer and inventor. She is famously known for designing “Harlequin eyeglass frames” or popularly known as ‘cat-eye glasses’.
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FollowThe latest Google Doodle honours Altina "Tina" Schinasi, an accomplished American artist, designer, and inventor who is best known for her distinctive Harlequin eyeglass frame, also known as the "cat-eye" frame and responsible for revolutionising eyeglasses.
Schinasi, whose parents were immigrants, was born on August 4 in Manhattan, New York. Schinasi's artistic journey began in Paris and concluded in her innovative contributions to the fashion and cinema industries.
Tina Schinasi continued her love of painting in Paris after finishing her schooling, where she also gained a deep respect for the arts. Upon her return to the United States, she honed her skills further at The Art Students League in New York, all while working as a window dresser for several stores on Fifth Avenue. She got the chance to work with and learn from renowned painters like Salvador Dal and George Grosz during this time, which had a big impact on her aesthetic perspective.
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During her time working as a window display designer, the concept for her enduring "cat-eye" eyeglasses frames began to take shape. seeing that women's spectacles only came in boring, circular shapes. She created pointed and fashionable frames that highlighted the wearer's face, drawing inspiration from the unusual features of the Harlequin masks used during Venice's Carnevale carnival. Her early prototypes, which showed off her creative design, were constructed of paper. Altina's innovative cat-eye design has influenced fashion trends all around the world for over a century.
Major manufacturers originally disapproved of her daring design because they thought it was too unusual. Schinasi didn't give up and kept looking until she found a local business owner who supported her idea and provided an exclusive deal for six months.
The Harlequin glasses immediately became well-known, making Schinasi well-known. The cat-eye frames rose to fame among American women in the late 1930s and early 1940s, winning several awards, including the coveted Lord & Taylor American Design Award in 1939, and being featured in illustrious publications like Vogue and Life.
Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She was a pioneer in the field of textile design, and her work is still admired today.
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