In high school history I learned shipwrecks of Roman trading ships had been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea with cargoes intact. Trade was important to the Romans. Goods unique to one country were bought and shipped back to Italy.
Trade is even more important today and the glassware at the restaurant silently attests to that fact. The glasses are Duralex. Duralex is French made glassware tempered to resist breaking. Invented just two years before I was born, Duralex, with its unique properties, was soon shipped around the world.
Restaurants loved it. The glasses stood up to the crude automatic dishwashers of the period. The glasses lasted so long they developed a cloudy, surface patina of thousands of scratches from repeated trips through the dishwasher.
But, the Duralex glass folk are not resting on their laurels. The second glass is also Duralex but a more recent design. Curious, I googled Duralex. I wondered if it was now being made in China, as well. No, it wasn't. The company says,
"The original tempered (toughened) Picardie glasses are still produced in France and are known as the “original French tumblers”. . . . Duralex is and will always remain a true French manufacturer of glassware and tabletop products, and is the only glass manufacturer that makes 100% of their products in France."
2 comments:
Good that they're not going along with the temptation to just go with Chinese factories.
The most durable glasses. There are still some glasses and glass dishes from that brand at my father's home from 70's.
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