Summary:

East Germany Company invented potassium ion treated glass in the 1970’s. The glass is 15x more durable than regular glass. No Western company bought it because they made more money if glass broke easily. The Soviet Union collapsed and East German company went out of business.

20 years later Apple needed a durable glass touchscreen for the iPhone. Corning sold the same ion treated glass to Apple under the brand, “Gorilla Glass.”

Some East German restaurants and bars still use the 40 year old glasses today because it’s that durable.

More like “How Germans invented unbreakable glass due to shortages caused by Communism”

It is sad that we aren’t doing anything about planned obsolescence.

Interestingly there’s a German company that ran a kickstarter campaign to produce a line of bottles purportedly using this glass hardening process. I have no idea if they are any good, but it seems cool that the process is being put back into commercial use.

There’s also some western counter parts that were (and are) known for being difficult to break like Corelle. I actually have a few bowls from my Grandmother’s set from 30-40 years ago that are still in daily rotation that have outlived everything else I’ve bought in the meantime.