Historical information
Nino Corda was a Geelong based textile designer who worked at various textile mills between 1957 & 2003. He travelled the world in search of the latest fashions and techniques and developed timeless designs that were much loved by Australians. These items are on rotational display at the National Wool Museum’s ‘In the Factory’ exhibition.
For many years, Nino also worked as part of the Honorary Staff of the National Wool Museum. His passion for the world of textiles provided energy and knowledge to the visitors and staff of the museum. Although Nino has now retired from his honorary position and has hung up his Australian Tartan vest, these items will continue to serve the community in sharing the stories of Australian Textile design.
Textile designers used glasses such as these to see how many threads are within a textile sample. It was important to count correctly, otherwise the enlarged final pattern would be out of alignment.
These glasses were popular in the 1950s but were replaced by viewing lens, such as item 8040 (in the National Wool Museum's Collection) in the 1960s because of their compact nature.
Physical description
Thin metal wire makes up the frame of the glasses. The metal is a standard metallic silver. The piece to sit on-top of the ear is excessively curved to hook around the ear. This is done to ensure the glasses do not fall off the face while looking down to view thread counts in a textile sample.
The glasses are lacking lenses in their usual place. This has been replaced by another thin wire frame which protrudes an extra inch in front of the frame, almost like an additional layer of the glasses. Where this layer / frame ends, two lenses can be found which are square and much smaller than typical glasses lenses. This has been done to allow for powerful magnifying glass which would be ill-suited if it sat too close to the face / eyes.
The glasses are also accompanied by their original box. The box is blue and has a large rectangle running through its centre. This rectangle works as a cushion for the glasses and is required as a result of their unusual shape.
