The company's history is interesting because in France almost the same thing happened with Duralex, which was near bankruptcy but was bought back by the employees a few weeks back.
And now it's popular again.
Until people forget about it and buy cheap stuff again.
I wonder how Duralex compares to Superfest in terms of durability. Duralex is certainly more durable than regular glass, but I have stopped demoing it because it does break sometimes. Our Duralex glasses are also pretty thick, while the Superfest stuff is rather thin.
They're kinda similar in that they're both tempered glasses - where you create residual compressive stress in the outer part of the glass which makes it stronger. However, there are different ways to temper glass. Superfest (and Gorilla Glass in smartphones) uses an ion-exchange technique where sodium ions on the surface are replaced with larger potassium ions.
I'm guessing that Duralex uses a thermal tempering process where the glass is heated very high and then rapidly cooled to temper it, but I don't know. Maybe Duralex also uses an ion-exchange and it just isn't as good as the Superfest process. Even with smartphone screens, newer techniques from Corning have created much stronger screens than we had 10-15 years ago even though they're all using the same basic ion-exchange technique.
Personally, I love tempered glass even if it might break. They're a lot less likely to break, they're less dangerous if they do break, and they don't really cost that much more. Maybe you'll pay $3/glass for regular soda-lime glasses and $5-6/glass for nice tempered ones, but I bought my tempered glasses a decade ago and still have all of them, despite having moved 3 times (and my packing technique doesn't involve bubble wrap or anything). Maybe Superfest is better, but for my non-restaurant use, tempered glasses like those from Duralex or Bormioli Rocco seem to be good enough.
> Until people forget about it and buy cheap stuff again.
Until they cut themselves on the sharp edges when it breaks. Duralex is safety glass but some people only see "wow many peaces normal glass only breaks into a few".
Proper cuts from Duralex look like you had a hard fall, proper cuts from normal glass require a trip to the hospital for stitches.
Yes Duralex is pretty sweet. They are thicker than normal glasses too. At home went from breaking / chipping a glass a week to maybe 3-4 a year. I have seen Duralex bounce off the tile unscathed many times.
I was astonished when I witnessed an acquaintance cycle his dishwasher. He would throw the clean ones out of the dishwasher onto the stone counter, getting air and a loud crashing sound out of each plate and glass, before doing it again into the cabinets. The dirties would rebound off the flexible plastic of the dish rack and smash into one another as he’d throw them in.
This same acquaintance was surprised to learn that my household doesn’t consume an entire roll of toilet paper each and every day.
Amazing what we take for granted about others’ basic habits of living, in life as in tech…
I don’t think I’ve dropped a glass or plate on my slate floor the entire time I’ve lived at my house - 10 years now. I think my wife maybe has once or twice.
The toddler somehow hasn't broken anything yet other than an entire carton of eggs once, which was so hilarious it was worth it. I assume the other people commenting though aren't children ;)
I don't break them but I have 5 kids. Perhaps one of the downsides of trusting them with most of the kitchen chores at a young age. It's annoying they have chipped all my favorite coffee cups too.
They have been particularly popular in French school canteens, which make it a childhood memory for many. I am sure that this nostalgic aspect helped with its renewed popularity.
One notable feature of Duralex glasses is that there is a number on the bottom that can go from 1 to 50. A tradition among schoolchildren is to look at that number, which is said to represent your age. In reality, it is the mold number, used for quality control, but that "age" thing is what most people remember it for.
I tend to find large "Gigogne" Duralex mixing bowls often in Goodwill/second hand stores in the Bay Area, and I can't resist getting them. They're truly versatile and very sturdy, and they stack very well without getting jammed.
I have seen Arcoroc glassware, I guess it's similar? Normally they break into a million pieces, but one plate failed spontaneously with hole falling out the bottom... I think it must have been overheated earlier.
I can only heartily recommend duralex. They were the only brand of drinking glasses that'd survive any appreciable amount of time growing up. I've only seen one break once, but I've seen them bounce plenty of times.
And now it's popular again.
Until people forget about it and buy cheap stuff again.
https://www.glass-international.com/news/duralex-employees-t...