Blinds have provided homes and other buildings with an attractive and effective shading solution for many years. But how long have blinds been around for? Well, it is hard to know precisely who invented blinds or when, but it’s clear that the earliest inceptions of blinds date back over 2,000 years.

Travel back in time, to ancient Rome

Roman blinds were invented by none other than ancient Romans as a solution to another innovation of theirs, roads. After creating roads, a ground-breaking invention at the time, Romans struggled to cope with the amount of dust and debris that would fly through the air. Modern roads have curbs that help trap debris and stop it from flying around. Back in those days, roads didn’t have curbs.

This dust was kicked up by horses and carriages and often flew into the faces of Romans and into their houses. As you can imagine, this wasn’t well-received.

It isn’t possible to pinpoint the first person to think of this, but Romans started hanging dampened cloth over windows to stop the dust from coming in. The solution effectively stopped dust and provided the added benefit of privacy, meaning passers-by were no longer able to look through the windows.

Another benefit was that blocking the windows stopped the sunlight from getting in, which helped to keep the houses cool. This was a huge benefit during the summer months. It’s logical to assume that the make-shift blinds would have also kept warm air inside during winter months.

What happened next?

Time passed and the Roman blind evolved into the kind on the market today. Roman blinds consist of a single piece of fabric wrapped around a circular barrel. The blind is operated using a drawstring control mechanism which raises and lowers the blind, controlling the amount of shading. The fabric neatly folds on itself as the blind is raised, creating a minimalistic appearance. Roman blinds can also be retrofitted with a motor which allows them to be remote controlled. The ancient Romans would be proud to see how far their invention has come.