'It was the combination of the affordability of it and the fact that there was some effort to tailor it to what people needed,' explains Regan Brumagen, one of the curators of the Corning Museum of Glass' Pyrex exhibit, which ended in 2016. Pyrex was already popular, but these color bowls created a legacy. My grandma had a set - your mother or grandmother likely did, too. Pearl white on the inside, the outsides of the four-bowl set were each yellow, green, red and blue. They were made out of soda lime opal glass, which had originally been used in military cafeterias. Though the earliest Pyrex was made of clear glass, in 1947 Corning debuted a set of different-sized colored mixing bowls that could nest together like Russian dolls to save space. Pyrex has been passed down from generation to generation and has retained both its durability and bright colors.

He took them home instead, later discovering that they had first belonged to his grandmother - he was the third generation to use them. He remembered her baking with the pieces during his childhood. 'She had some bread making bowls she was getting ready to donate,' he said. Michael Barber, author of the Pyrex Passion blog and guides to various patterns and colors of the dishware, started thinking about vintage Pyrex while helping his mother clean out her house. Yet people remain obsessed with the old Pyrex - not just to look at but to actually use. By 1919, 4 million pieces of Pyrex - a new, durable glassware - had been sold to customers throughout the United States.Ĭompared to modern kitchen items, vintage Pyrex - which is heavy, increasingly expensive and not dishwasher safe - doesn't seem immediately practical. Corning Glass Works in New York had created a product that allowed food to be mixed, baked and served all in the same dish. In 1915, an advertisement proclaiming, 'Bake in a glass!' appeared in the pages of Good Housekeeping. Morgan Mancha has more than 3,000 pieces of Pyrex, enough that she can't possibly keep everything on display despite her four hutches.

Fireside clear nesting pyrex bowls