Venetian Blinds a quick History
By Lawren Gournay
For Shades
Shutters Blinds brand Venetian Blinds, click her for colors and pricing
For Hunter
Douglas Venetian Blinds, Click her for colors and pricing
Venetian blinds were introduced around 1770. Possibly in Venice, Italy but no one really knows for sure. The word Venetian may have just been a marketing gimmick of the Georgian Era.
Window blinds are not a new concept; they have been around in one form or another since the Egyptians used reeds to fashion a type of blind. The Ming dynasty in ancient China even used
roman shades blinds as blinds. During the 1700's in Europe, modern blind evolved from wooden shutters. The original versions of modern blinds (Venetian blinds) were made from 2" strips of wood (slats) suspended in the window opening by decorative ribbon.
During the 1930s and '40s, window shades blinds were still being made from two inch wooden slats. It was during this time that they became known as Venetian blinds. After that there was a wave of popularity with blinds of the mini variety in the '80s. These were aluminum, baked-enamel painted, one-inch slats.
The first new innovation for Venetian blinds came in 1946, Hunter Douglas developed the first light weight aluminum slats. These two-inch aluminum
venetian blind slats became the standard for Venetian blinds. Aluminum blind slats have now traveled the full circle as far as slat widths are concerned. The 1960's, 70's and 80's saw the popular debut of the
window treatments blinds one inch Mini blind. The 90's the
window treatment blinds 1/2 inch Micro blinds rolled out. Now there is a resurgence of the original two inch, now called Macros, aluminum Venetian blind.
So what am I getting at? Simply, that blinds have been around for a very long time and are still used extensively today - for good reason, too. Let's explore some of the reasons why.
Blinds offer privacy when closed. They also afford light control by tilting the slats and unlike a shade, still allow you have a view. They are available in a variety of colors.
The closing mechanisms consist of a lift cord to raise the blind and either a tilt wand or cord to manipulate the slats. There's even a child-safe no-chord style where you just raise the blinds by pushing up from the bottom and lower them by pulling down by the last slat. Lastly for the couch potatoes out there or just hard to reach windows there is also the remote control motorization of blinds that makes opening, closing the tilt a piece of cake.
