Smashing idea: how East Germany invented ‘unbreakable’ drinking glasses

In the 1980s, a company called Superfest pioneered extra strong glass – but it disappeared with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now it’s making a comeback

The glass is narrow at the bottom but bulges out a third of the way to the top. As with the classic British “nonik” pint, the bulge makes the glass easier to stack and gives your thumb and index finger somewhere to rest. The name is spelled in fading letters near the rim and means “super tight” or “super strong” in German, which one might assume to be a reference to the drinker’s solid grip. In fact, it hails the glass’s extraordinary durability.

This is Superfest, East Germany’s “unbreakable” drinking glass. Invented in the industry-rich but resource-poor socialist German Democratic Republic, Superfest glasses were designed with the aim of making them last five times longer than ordinary drinking glasses. They were soon found to be 10 times more durable.

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