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...
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 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.
That said, in France they had a connotation of being cafeteria glasses, so perhaps that affected their perceived worth.
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…
EDIT: but he's skeptical of all the hype around sharp knives. He finds his butter knives work almost as well.
Ya’ll are clumsy.
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 ;)
So are you, in the future… if you’re lucky enough to stick around. ;)
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.
There is regional versions depending on where you are located at, available at the top right!