THE NEWS OF the 16 January death of André Cassagnes, the inventor of the popular Etch-a-Sketch toy was met with sadness this weekend.
The Frenchman was 86. He died in Paris.
The Ohio Art Company, which still makes Etch-a-Sketches, announced the passing of the electrical technician.
According to the New York Times, 100 million Etch-a-Sketches have been sold since it came on the market in 1960. It has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in the US, and even played its part in the Presidential Election last year.
Etch-a-Sketch hobbyists have started to pay tribute to Cassagnes, who was also a very successful competition kite designer.
Kevin Kuramura, who says his work has been shown on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – “where it made Tina Fey laugh. I dare you to give me a greater honour” – kicked off the sketches with this:
André Cassagnes, the inventor of the toy that became the Etch A Sketch, died in January. It’s unfortunate that it took Mr. Cassagnes’ death for most of us (myself included) to acknowledge his contributions, but here we are. The least I can do is sketch a tribute to him to show my appreciation for all he has done.
The self-proclaimed Princess Etch-A-Sketch followed up with this:
(Image: Jane Labowitch/Princess Etch-a-Sketch Tumblr)
And comedian Tom Shillue made this impressive contribution:
The New York Times issued a special image with its obituary:
(Image: New York Times)
This Twitter picture of Mario was accompanied with the text: “Thank you Mr. Cassagnes for making our childhood even more fun!”
(Image: @fingerpainters/Twitter)
The following sketch isn’t a tribute but Twitter user @Sarah_Ridnourr sums up our thoughts exactly: “I don’t understand how people can draw this on an etch a sketch like wtf I can’t even make a square.”
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