Duralex

Founded in 1945, Duralex has been manufacturing tempered glassware and tabletop products for over 80 years in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin in the very heart of France. Duralex products have become legendary in the history of design, and is one of those brands that inevitably spark off memories of happy times. Its reputation is based on the very qualities of its product and its unique material, tempered glass, whose strength inspired the brand name taken from the Latin motto, "Dura Lex Sed Lex".

The Duralex tempering operation consists of heating the glass to a very high temperaturs and then rapidly cooling it down. This treatment creates in the glass a force or reaction, which improves most of its physical properties including resistance to mechanical stress (bending, shocks and impacts) and to thermal shocks.

Resulting Mechanical Properties: the product is 2.5 times more resistant than a fired product of equal thickness.

Resulting Thermal Properties: tempered glass can resis a thermal shock of 266F, wile classical glass breaks from a thermal shock of about 104F. Tempered glass conserves the optical and acoustic properties of each basic product. After being tempered, the glass can no longer be reshaped. Slight deformations may be observed after tempering which are inherent in the manufacturing process.