Leon Theremin Shirt – Thereminvox Patent

This Leon Theremin shirt tells a story. In 1928, Leon Theremin filed the patent for the Thereminvox, also known as the Theremin, with the United States Patent Office. The press throughout the Western world had already talked about his magnificent instrument. Still, the deposit was the necessary step that preceded the device’s marketing, first with the RCA Corporation and then with Teletouch.

The following year the RCA Corporation began commercializing the musical instrument, accompanied by an aggressive marketing campaign that led Leon Theremin and his collaborators to demonstrate the thereminvox far and wide in the United States and to appear on countless radio broadcasts.

The splendid photographic portrait we selected to decorate this shirt dates back to the same period. The young Leon Theremin, just 32 years old, strikes the observer with his magnetic gaze and innate elegance.

In the background, a Theremin patent’s page, an invention that would have left an indelible mark in the history of music and influenced legions of musicians and inventors. Among all, it is enough to mention Bob Moog. He began his career as an inventor of electronic musical instruments by designing and building Theremin and openly declared that he was a Leon Theremin fan.

From his youth, Bob Moog attempted to recreate and equal the sonic magic that Theremin had been able to create with the rudimentary technology he had in those pioneering times. In particular, Moog admired Theremin’s ability to give life to a brilliant idea using the simplest possible solution and knowing how to do it without the help of measurement tools that later became the usual tools of the electronic designer’s paraphernalia.

Leon Theremin was indeed one of the most extraordinary figures of the twentieth century. He was a brilliant inventor, patriot, spy, and thought man. He never acted like the typically hired scientist willing to put his genius and talent at the highest bidder’s service. His life story is as compelling as the one conceived by a skilled novelist.

We have retouched, processed, and colored the photo with the utmost care starting from a high-definition scan of the original and will print this Leon Theremin Shirt to order using world-class Direct To Garment (DTG) printers.