History of Design: Spectacles

My Eyeglasses

If I had to choose one object I cannot spend a day without, it would undoubtedly be my Spectacles. It enables me to see the world through a clear perspective. I’ve been using it since I was 12 and now, it's so much a part of my life that I almost take it for granted, just like we do to every single important and frequently used object.

In this case, we owe ample gratitude to the Romans. They were the ones who discovered that glass could be manipulated to magnify things. The wealthy people there used to commission glass blowers to make glass spheres.

Glass Globe of Water

Over time, glass workers and engineers continued to perfect this art, creating thinner and thinner curved glass blocks and lenses. The first attempts to improve vision were experimented somewhere before the year 1200, when glass spheres filled with water were used to enlarge objects. Roman tragedian Seneca was one of the people to use a glass globe filled with water.

A Reading Stone

In the 13th century, people of Venice used rock crystals for the purpose of reading. They used to place them on the pages of the books and move it along with their eyes. This helped the reader see the smaller fonts better. They called them “Reading Stones”. It was also during this century that Luigi Zecchin made an important discovery: placing a lens made of crystal in front of his eyes helped improve his vision.

D’Armati’s Spectacles

However, Salvino D’Armati from Italy is most often credited for being the first to create the eyeglasses in the 13th century. In 1284, the production of "roidi da ogli", which means "round glass for the eyes,” was put in place.

These lenses were designed for near vision only, i.e. for hyperopia.

Following the discovery of a transparent glass paste in the 14th century, lenses became more affordable, making it easier to market them outside of Venice. Subsequently, the first glasses with biconvex lenses (useful to enhance vision from a distance) were designed. At that time, the eyeglasses were composed of two lenses assembled using a metal or leather outline and a rivet. In order to use them, the wearer had to hold them in front of their eyes.

The invention of the ‘printing press’ was done in the 1400s, which left a significant effect on the demand and sale of spectacles. As reading was made more accessible to the people, they liked to spend their time reading books and articles, and the popularity of spectacles rose exponentially.

By the 1500s, the frames were made of luxurious materials, such as horns, leather and whalebones. Research was done to find ways that did not require one to hold their eyeglasses while using them, which resulted in models with nose clips.

A century later, in the 1600s, the frames were fixed with a ribbon around the head or were affixed on a stick, which was then hidden under the wig or hat of the wearer.

It was in this century that people knew the principle of the concave and convex lenses. Eyeglasses can be produced with single lenses that correct for distance vision or up close, or they can be manufactured with multifocal lenses, which correct both distance and reading.

The first version of eyeglasses we’re familiar with today, came in the 18th century.

It was between 1727 and 1730 that the first eyeglasses with branches were invented by British optician, Edward Scarlett. They were made of rigid branches, with rings at the ends.

Bifocal lenses can be used to treat nearsightedness and presbyopia. They were first devised by Benjamin Franklin in 1784.

Cylindrical lenses used to correct astigmatism were invented by Sir George Airy in 1825.

In 1873, John Wesley Hyatt discovered celluloid, the first artificial form of plastic. This material was later used to make frame shapes that had never been seen before.

Now, Glasses have become one of the best fashion accessories. It adds character to a person's face.

From Glasses that protect us from harsh rays of Sun, glasses which gives us the perception of seeing a flat screen as 3-Dimensional, ones which protects our eyes from harmful blue rays of digital screens, from blinding sparks while welding metal, high speed winds that rushes in eyes almost closing them while riding a motorcycle, there are a whole lot of different forms which uses the design of the frame that evolved for the spectacles, and changes are made according to the uses.

New technologies for lenses, contact lenses and even frame materials continue to be developed year after year.

Interestingly now, the purpose and the people for which eyeglasses were designed, are shifting to a way that removes the frame from their face, whereas the ones that don’t require them are putting them. Thus, the future is unpredictable and so is the future of design.

Links/Credits:

https://atlanticeyeinstitute.com/the-history-of-eyeglasses/

https://iris.ca/en/blog-post-detail/the-history-of-glasses-their-invention-and-their-evolution

http://www.glasseshistory.com/

https://www.luxottica.com/en/about-us/museo-dellottica/eyeglasses-timeline

https://www.junetrop.com/single-post/2020/07/20/a-roman-magnifying-globe

https://www.sutori.com/story/glasses-of-the-past--KxFbBTo3ifysYSxpco3GjDgi

Prerak Mandavia

22BDI014

17 Sept. ‘22