The Evolution of Our Eyeglasses

Most of us take for granted our eyeglasses, contact lenses and other tools that help us see more clearly.  But eyeglasses didn’t just pop up in the 20^th century. They been evolving for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Early recorded evidence demonstrates that glasses first appeared in Pisa, Italy about the year 1286. Technically, they were created from two convex shaped glass or crystal stones. Each was surrounded by a frame and given a handle. These were then connected together through the ends of their handles by a rivet. They were not really an invention per se but instead an adaptation of something used earlier – the simple glass stone magnifier.

Essentially someone took two existing mounted stones and connected them with a rivet. Most likely, this first pair of glasses was invented by someone who wanted to keep the process a secret in order to make a profit. Two monks from the St. Catherine’s Monastery, Giordano da Rivalto and Alessandro della Spina, provide the earliest documentation to support this fact. Giordano coined the term “Occhiale” or eyeglasses, and its use began to spread throughout Italy and Europe.

Not surprisingly, eyeglasses would receive a major push for their future development in regions where other glass objects were being produced. At the time Venice, Italy was one of the most advanced centers for the medieval glass industry.

By the middle of the 15^th century, the city of Florence led in the innovation, production, sale, and spread of spectacles (eyeglasses) in Italy and beyond.

Published evidence in the form of letters of the dukes of Milan dated in the years 1462 and 1466, reveal the first detailed information about spectacles since their invention. By this time, Florence, Italy was producing in large quantities not only convex and concave lenses. Florence had become the leading manufacturer of readily available and affordable good-quality spectacles.

The massive documentation available only in Florence for this early period reveals the name of fifty-two spectacle makers between 1413 and 1562 and the location of their shops. The large numbers of spectacles circulating in northwest Europe (especially London) from the 14th century on were being mass-produced in the Low Countries. They were then manufactured in England beginning in the 15th century. Other centers of production like Germany, France, and Netherlands began to appear more frequently in the sources only by the sixteenth century but they never produced anything near the quantity of the Florentine documentation until well into the seventeenth century.

As the 20th century opened, eyeglass wearers emphasized style. The improved plastics in the early 1900’s heralded a new era in frame styling. During the 1930’s sunglasses also became very popular. By 1950, eyeglasses had become a fashion accessory in Europe and North America.

Eyeglass wearers demanded stylish, comfortable, and functional designs exhibiting both variety and elegance. They still do. Eyeglasses have become an added accessory by which people can enhance their own individual look.