Creative ideas can come from the most unlikely places. This is the case with the original invention of the Etch A Sketch. Around 1955, a 30 year old electrician named, André Cassagnes, from Vitry-Sur-Seine, France, was installing a factory light switch plate that was covered with a translucent decal. Cassagnes made some pencil marks on the decal face, and after peeling the decal from the light switch plate, he noticed that the image transferred to the opposite side. While seemingly unremarkable, this was the origin of his idea to create a drawing toy.