Gallery: The Oddly Fascinating, Fantastical History of Eyeglasses
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*Overview*, an exhibit currently up at the Design Museum Holon, charts the history and evolution of eyeglasses. It includes the private collection of optometrist Claude Samuel.
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It also a batch of 50 conceptual eyeglasses, by contemporary Israeli designers. These sculptural pieces, by Dana Benshalom, draw attention to a common gesture for those who wear glasses: pushing them up the nose bridge. What if you could wheel them up your nose, instead?
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But first, the history of eyewear. Maya Dvash, the curator, traces glasses back to before Benjamin Franklin. For a time, scientists and designers weren't even sure how to keep glasses perched on the face. These bronze, handheld, folding spectacles are from 18th century China.
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Once glasses could stay put, they freed people’s hands for writing, and opened up the possibility of clerical or literary work. These Benjamin Martin eyeglasses from 1756 affix to the ears.
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New use cases and innovations came up, especially after the industrial revolution ushered in new forms of manufacturing. As designs advanced, so did the tools used for optometry. These metal and ivory phoropter testing glasses are from mid-19th century England.
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That bled into the entertainment world, too. These opera binoculars are from 19th century England.
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A slightly more advanced phoropter design, from England in 1904.
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The industrial revolution helped make eyewear into a fashion accessory. “You could invent anything you had in mind—you could have eyeglass more for the the look than for the eyesight,” Dvash says. These plastic Italian frames are certainly for the look.
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So are these avant-garde Pierre Cardin plastic glasses, from 1960.
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Eyewear is poised to move into a new realm, from fashion statement to technological assistant. To explore that future, Dvash asked modern designers to think about the topic. These layered eyeglasses from Omer Polak aren't high tech, but they're symbolically local. They were made in a Tel Aviv neighborhood filled with carpentry workshops. Each layer is a material from a different shop.
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Ototo's spectacles are for the third eye—a nod to trends in mindfulness, perhaps.
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Gregory Larin's eyeglasses draw inspiration from the fantasy world—a new superhero (or villain) would be right at home in them.
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Tal Gur rethinks glasses as another kind of wearable. Like the other conceptual pieces, it's not meant to be worn. But then again, the idea wasn’t to land the next big thing in eyewear. It was to see what designers might come up with.
