The Duralex® brand
FOR EVERYONE, FOR EVERY DAY, AND FOREVER
The table unites, brings together, invites carefreeness. It is a haven, a landmark. Since 1945, the Duralex® brand has drawn its inspiration from the little joys of everyday life.
Duralex® lenses have been designed to accompany you at all times. Like when you share a meal with family, or when you have friends over for dinner.
Our tempered glass dinnerware celebrates the simple pleasures of life. It is an invitation to share, a vector of emotion, and a bridge between generations.
Our history
The Duralex® workshops have been producing our famous tempered glass tableware for more than 70 years. As it would take a bit to tell you everything, we have only kept the key dates of this beautiful story shared with you.
The Duralex® workshops were founded in 1927, in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, near Orléans. At its beginnings, the factory manufactured carboys, jars and glasses for the distillery. Very quickly, the workshops were bought by Parfums Coty under the name Verreries de la Chapelle Saint-Mesmin. And the gigantic ovens transform the sand into finely crafted perfume bottles. The Saint-Gobain group bought the factory in 1934. And it was within these walls that the industrialist invented tempered glass, a manufacturing process which gives the glass strength like no other, and which would later become the brand of Duralex® factory. To test the resistance of this new material, our researchers suspended a 1kg steel ball 1.50 meters above two glass plates. The first, made of ordinary glass, shatters. The second, made of tempered glass, is resistant. This is when the Duralex® brand was born. This new process is first used to produce lighting lights, as well as windows for the automobile industry. But in 1945, we imagined a new market for tempered glass: everyday tableware, for everyone, and forever. And then everything speeds up. The Gigogne® cup, our first model, leaves our workshops. Universal, timeless, this tableware item has become cult and can quickly be found on every table. Those in canteens, where schoolchildren have fun reading the number written at the bottom of each glass to compare their age. But also those of great restaurants. New design. New model. New global success. Picardie® glass leaves our workshops and its nine facets, its beveled profile, its bold lines quickly make it a must-have in tableware and pop culture. Real Madrid players arrive in France to compete in the European Cup at the Parc des Princes. The first thing they do when they arrive in Paris is buy Duralex® tableware and glasses. Duralex® creates its first “mass-tinted” glass. The minerals are incorporated directly into the liquid glass. When glass solidifies, it captures minerals. This way, the color retains its shine. Even after years. Duralex® glass joins the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, on the occasion of the “Editing Design” exhibition. Subsequently, the colored Picardie® glasses, as well as the Gigogne® bowls and salad bowls, even appeared in the MoMA boutique, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the film Skyfall, the most famous English spy enjoys his whiskey in a Picardie® glass. Timeless, unbeatable, Duralex® lenses are becoming stars of the big screen. They appear in particular in the films of Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Duralex® obtains the prestigious Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label, which rewards historic French companies for their exceptional know-how, between innovation and tradition. The Duralex® brand joins the International Cookware group, renamed La Maison Française du Verre in 2021. A happy twist of fate, which brings Duralex® closer to the Pyrex® brand, the other French champion of glass products.. And the opportunity to 'expand the presence of Duralex® to become an essential reference, in France and internationally. All Duralex® glasses are made in France, in the same factory as in 1946, in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin. The Duralex® workshops now house 250 employees and more than 350 references of tempered glass tableware. Our cups are heated, shaped, then cooled quickly by ventilation of cold air. It is precisely this thermal shock that gives Duralex® glass its extraordinary resistance. The cups are then packaged and shipped. All Duralex® tableware items are stamped Origin France Guaranteed, a certification awarded by an independent organization to certify the French origin of a product. And 99% of the raw materials we use come from France. Trucks arrive from Fontainebleau filled with sand, limestone and alumina. Then they leave for the four corners of the world, loaded with our famous tempered glass cups. < Discover the Duralex® range > Avec Duralex®, votre verre tombe mais ne se brise pas. Et sa couleur reste intacte, même après des passages répétés au lave-vaisselle. Tout cela, grâce à un procédé breveté que nous avons inventé il y a des années. Découvrez le secret de nos verres légendaires.
1927
Birth of an icon
1930
Like a perfume of eternity
1934
A strong character
1944
The zero ball
1945
Foot to the floor
1946
“Guess how old I am?”
1954
Picardie®, of course!
1956
The glass cup
1961
High Color
2007
A night at the museum
2012
Bond, James Bond
2019
Heritage Days
2021
Deus Pyrex® Machina
Our workshops
The most French of cups
The secret of strength