altina schinasi

Google Doodle celebrates the 116th birthday of Altina Schinas, the inventor of the cat's eye  frame 

 On August 4, her 116th birthday, Google will celebrate the life of Altina 'Tina' Schinas, the American artist, programmer and innovator best known as the designer of the most  popular 'cat's eye' glass frame, with a portrait. 

 Schinasi was born on this day in 1907 in Manhattan, New York, to Native American parents,  Google Doodle said in a blog post. He designed the Harlequin  frame, briefly known  as the "cat's eye" frame. Schinasi also patented several other inventions  and produced images during his career, according to a blog post. 

The mother of Schinas was from Saloonia (also in the Ottoman Empire) and his father was a Sephardic Jewish Turk. He studied petroleum in Paris after college, which gave him recognition for the profession. After returning to the United States, he studied art at The Art Students League in New York and became a window dresser in several Fifth Avenue stores. During this time, he began working with and learning from prominent artists he respected, such as Salvador Dalí and George Grosz, the blog post said. Read also| The Women's Day Google Doodle highlights the many ways women support each other 

 While working as a developer of window screens, he was inspired to create his now infamous "cat's eye" frames. In the  window  of a nearby optician he noticed that the only option for women's glasses were round frames for everyday wear. This observation led Schinas to create a different option for women. He imitated the shape of the Harlequin masks he saw people wearing during Carnevale celebrations in Venice, Italy. He placed sharp edges  to flatten the face and began his innovative frame design with a paper cutout. 

 However, Schinas' creations were rejected by all  major manufacturers who claimed that his design was too edgy. However, he did not give up and luck struck when the original store manager believed in his vision and requested an exclusive design for six months.  Harlequin glasses were a quick success and gave Schinas a major boost. 

  Harlequin glasses emerged as an inviting fashion statement in the late 1930s and  1940s. He received the Lord and Taylor Design Award in 1939 for his invention and was indeed recognized by major magazines such as Vogue and Life.  Schinasi ventured into the world of cinema and gave a speech in 1960  about the famous artist and his former teacher George Grosz. called Interregno by George Grosz, it was nominated for an Academy Award and won first prize at the Venice Film Festival. He later wrote and published his autobiography The Road I Have Traveled (1995), volunteered as an art therapist, and built truly unique display chairs and benches that he called Chairacter. Almost 100 times since its launch, the cat eye design has continued to influence  fashion accessories worldwide.