The first spice grinder was invented in the fifteenth century by either the Turkish people or the Persians there is still some debate over this.
The Turkish people, like the Ethiopians, treat coffee with a huge amount of respect. Coffee is involved in their day to day life in a very close way, and it even finds its way into their wedding ceremonies and many other events.
Interestingly, it is this appreciation of aesthetic beauty that sees certain design elements finding their way into the world of coffee, and, specifically, grinders.
The Turks, we shall say, invented a type of grinder that was no doubt used for both coffee and spices (as Turkey is well known for both), and have a certain lavishness to it.
These grinders were (and still are) stunningly made, and they are sold around the world, with many copycats trying to capture authentic Turkish and Persian design elements which have now been around for hundreds of years.
They also innovated the design as well. One example of such a design improvement is that they were able to design the tall, cylindrical coffee grinders we see everywhere now today, as well as introduced a functional grind receptacle, as well as other new types of handles and hidden pockets.