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TIL about East Germany’s extremely durable drinking glass (ceramics.org)
submitted 2 days ago by cm0002@literature.cafe to c/til@lemmy.ca
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Superfest, chemically strengthened glass

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[-] Jhex@lemmy.world 62 points 2 days ago

Even though Superfest glasses soared in popularity, their lifespan was cut short once it became clear that the product was too durable. If Superfest glasses did not break very easily, as demonstrated in the video below, then they would not have to be replaced as often, which could jeopardize profits in the glassware industry.

The efficiency of capitalism…

[-] jacksilver@lemmy.world 34 points 2 days ago

Except if you read the article this was under East Berlin, which:

During this time, East Germany lived under a command economy, in which the Socialist Unity Party made all decisions regarding production goals and raw material allotment.

Since the company only existed alongside east Berlin, it seems like this was an issue with the command economy.

[-] Zombie@feddit.uk 9 points 2 days ago

Except if you understand what the command economy is then you must understand this:

A state-capitalist country is one where the government controls the economy and essentially acts as a single huge corporation, extracting surplus value from the workforce in order to invest it in further production.[3] This designation applies regardless of the political aims of the state, even if the state is nominally socialist.[4] Some scholars argue that the economy of the Soviet Union and of the Eastern Bloc countries modeled after it, including Maoist China, were state capitalist systems, and Eastern and Western commentators alike assert that the current economies of China and Singapore also constitute a mixture of state-capitalism with private capitalism.[5][6][7][8][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism

[-] jacksilver@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

I mean, I guess if you're using a very loose definition of capitalism. Most people assume competition as a core element of capitalism and in a command economy that doesn't really exist.

But based on the article the issue was the state taking a defensive measure for the glassworks industry, which would be more the state control side than the capitalist side.

Overall though, it does get messy. Every economic system is both many things and evolving. I just wanted to point out this wasn't an economic system commonly referred to as "capitalism" and highlights that any economic system will have problems.

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Well then by that definition capitalism isn't capitalism because the steady-state of capitalism without massive government interference (state planning) has always been monopoly or coordinating oligopoly, repeatedly shown through history.

But yes, the "idealistic" system of pretty much any economic system won't ever exist.

[-] geissi@feddit.org 0 points 1 day ago

They wanted to export it to the west where they did not distributors. There was no demand economy in the west.

I see in your other comment that:

based on the article the issue was the state taking a defensive measure for the glassworks industry

That is very much not in the article. Nowhere does it mention the state taking any measures.
What the article fails to point out that the glassware industry who's profits were jeopardized was the western one. The profit oriented one.

Also please note that East Germany was more than just East Berlin.

[-] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Isn't that what happened to the indestructible line of corningware too?

[-] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Don't know why you got downvoted. Seems like a relevant concern in the context of the article.

[-] unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth 29 points 2 days ago

In the east, these used to be in bars all over the place. Bars loved them, because they rarely had to be replaced. The only problem: customers had way too much fun throwing these glasses onto the floor and watching them not break... Until they eventually did, because everything breaks at some point.

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Potassium ion exchange is the same process used to strengthen phone screen glass ("gorilla glass") and similar products - it's actually pretty easy to do at home, too (err... provided you're comfortable working with liquid potassium). Fascinating chemistry, god ceramics are cool.

[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

provided you’re comfortable working with liquid potassium

haha pass

[-] DaGeek247@fedia.io 9 points 2 days ago

The article also mentioned soulbottles, which is modern recreation of these east Germany glass cups.

https://soulbottles.com/

Very cool.

[-] Malgas@beehaw.org 11 points 2 days ago

I'm not finding any claim of superior durability on that site. The statements about material say that they now use more recycled glass and have reduced emissions by 75% compared to the original soul bottle. All of which makes me doubtful that they are still using the Superfest process.

But maybe I just missed it, or they're actively hiding a major selling point for some reason.

[-] DaGeek247@fedia.io 6 points 2 days ago

they're actively hiding a major selling point for some reason.

This is the only conclusion I could come to as well. They have it on their kickstarter, but not on their website, which is full of hippie stuff (neutral) instead for some reason. The old version didn't use the process, and the new version does, but only according to the kickstarter about it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulkupfer/ultraglass-stronger-and-lighter-bottles-with-ion-technology

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 7 points 2 days ago

I have a low tolerance for inconsistent messaging like this. Sketchy

[-] PrinzKasper@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago

Looking at the updates posted on their kickstarter, they're saying the project failed and the brand has been taken over by a different company https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulkupfer/ultraglass-stronger-and-lighter-bottles-with-ion-technology/posts/4480077

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

Oh sad. But yeah, not buying that!

[-] lyralycan@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago

Fancy! I wonder how it would've compared to Duralex.

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

Chemically tempered glass is a great deal stronger than thermally tempered glass (up to 10x stronger than untreated glass vs. up to 2x, for an incredibly reductive yet illustrative oversimplification)

[-] DaGeek247@fedia.io 7 points 2 days ago

Are they mutually exclusive? I would love to see tempered glass combined with chemically hardened glass for an even more durable dinner set?

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

With the caveat that this is very much not my field (I just think it's neat): I believe you wouldn't see much of a benefit - they are different methods of achieving the same result (putting the surface of the glass under tension), and while chemically strengthened glass gives a more uniform result which gives greater strength, subsequently heat tempering that glass would likely not compound the effect. I also suspect that it would be exceedingly difficult to design a process where you could get the benefit of both techniques at once - chemically tempered glass requires a long cooling period, which is the inverse of the process to produce heat tempered glass.

[-] frank@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 day ago

This is the idea behind a Prince Rupert Drop, yeah? So do the glasses have a point where they're frail? Like the lip of the rim or something?

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yep, prince rupert* drops are thermally tempered glass. As I understand it (again this is not my field, I just think it's neat), prince rupert drops aren't "frail" at any one point exactly - the long tails are just as strong as the rest, but because they have such a tiny cross sectional area (thus the force you apply isn't distributed across a wide surface area) you're able to overcome the strength of the glass. That's why a failure there causes a cascade, because the force is otherwise evenly distributed throughout the whole surface. Because the glasses don't have a similar feature where the cross section becomes miniscule, they're not going to be significantly more or less frail at any one point.

[-] frank@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 day ago

Ah super cool! I worked as an engineer in an aluminum plant in the past, and I am always so blown away about how differently ceramics and metals behave.

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 points 2 days ago

I looked them up on eBay, and found a pair of taller glasses for $99, and a pair of smaller ones asking $60.

They're pretty cool looking. I'd love some, but not at those prices. It's seems like a good opportunity for someone to reproduce them.

this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2026
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