So, the rabbit hole was achieved. Turns out Venetian blinds, like so many Venetian 'inventions', were invented elsewhere but perfected and mass distributed in Venice. In the case of the blinds, Venetian merchants found them in Persia and took the design back to Venice. Due to its large maritime trade and fabrication capabilities, they were able to ship the design around the world, where it became especially popular in the early USA. It is actually really common for this to happen in Venice because of the maritime trade; they travelled to parts of the world other Europeans hadn't. In Venetian history, it is really common to find an idea in other parts of the world and then take the idea back to Venice, where it was changed into a more producible item and sold all over the world through their huge trade output. This is actually how many popular European foods entered into general usage throughout Italy and Europe. The Venetians perfected taking small ideas from around the world and perfecting and, more importantly, commercialising them; Venetian blinds are another example of that. Sorry for the rant, I love Venetian history (obviously).