Altina Schinasi's 116th Birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates the life of Altina “Tina” Schinasi, an American artist, designer, and inventor most known for designing the Harlequin eyeglass frame — known today as the widely popular “cat-eye” eyeglass frame. Schinasi also patented several other inventions throughout her career and produced documentaries. 

Schinasi was born on this day in 1907 in Manhattan, New York to immigrant parents. Her mother was a native of Salonica (then in the Ottoman Empire) and her father was a Sephardic Jewish Turk. After graduating high school, Schinasi studied painting in Paris, which sparked her appreciation for the arts. Once back in the US, she studied art at The Art Students League in New York and took a position as a window dresser for multiple stores on Fifth Avenue. During this time, she found herself working with and learning from prominent artists she admired such as Salvador Dalí and George Grosz. 

Schinasi’s time working as a window display designer inspired the creation of her now-famous “cat-eye” frames. At the window display of a nearby optician's office, she noticed that the only option for women’s glasses tended to be round frames with mundane designs. This observation inspired Schinasi to create a different option for women, mimicking the shape of the Harlequin masks she saw people wearing in Venice, Italy during the Carnevale festival. She found the pointed edges flattering to the face and started by cutting paper demos of her innovative frame design. 

Schinasi approached all of the major manufacturers with her creation — all of which rejected her, claiming her design was too edgy. But, she didn’t give up. She struck luck when a local shop owner believed in her vision and asked for an exclusive design for six months. To their delight, the Harlequin glasses quickly became a success, earning Schansi much publicity. By the late 1930s and through the 1940s, Harlequin glasses became an overwhelming fashion accessory among women in the US. Schinasi was awarded the Lord & Taylor American Design Award in 1939 for her invention, and was recognized by major magazines including Vogue and Life.

Already an established and successful artist, Schinasi also ventured into the world of film. In 1960, she produced a documentary about the celebrated artist and her former teacher George Grosz titled George Grosz' Interregnum. It was nominated for an Academy Award and won first place at the Venice Film Festival.

In her later years, Schinasi did not slow down. She wrote and published her memoir The Road I Have Traveled (1995), volunteered as an art therapist, and even invented unique portrait chairs and benches which she called Chairacters.

Today, almost 100 years after its inception, Altina’s cat-eye design continues its influence in fashion accessory trends worldwide. 

Happy birthday to the woman who was a visionary in more ways than one!

Special thanks to Altina Schinasi’s son Terry Sanders for his collaboration on this project. Below, he shares a note on behalf of his family.

Happy Birthday, Tina! Thank you for your courage, kindness and inspiration.
Much love, always.

-Terry (son), Victoria, Juliette, Peter, David, Eve, Jessica, Brittany (grandchildren)