Visions (cookware)

Visions is a brand of transparent stove top cookware created by Corning France and introduced to Europe during the late 1970s. In 1983, it was introduced in the United States and became the number one selling cookware set for a number of years. Visions is made of a transparent material belonging to the Pyroceram family of glass-ceramics. It is one of the few cookware lines that can be used on the range (gas and electric), in the oven (conventional, convection, and microwave), and under a broiler. It will withstand heat up to 850 °C (1,560 °F) with thermal traits similar to Corning Ware plus improved resistance to staining and the detrimental effects of acids and detergents. Visions is sold worldwide by Corelle Brands.

In 1953 S. Donald Stookey of the Corning Research and Development Division discovered Pyroceram, an opaque-white glass-ceramic material with a high thermal shock resistance. Included in his subsequent patents were references to a transparent variation of this material.^{[citation needed]} While Pyroceram went on to be used for a variety of products, including Corning Ware cookware, the transparent version was also heavily studied for potential use as cookware over the next two decades.^{[citation needed]}

In 1963 George Beall, working under Stookey, explored a method for making the transparent cookware. However, by 1966, Corning decided against commercializing it for fear that it would cannibalize Pyrex sales.

In 1977, Andre Andrieu and Serge Renault, working for Corning France, patented the claim that would form the basis for amber-tinted, transparent Vision cookware. It was produced in France and released for the European market in 1979 to instant success.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981, Corning Glass Works began test marketing the cookware in the United States as an imported product under the name “Le CLAIR” rather than VISION due to a trademark conflict over the name. Once the trademark obstacles were overcome, the product finally received an official rollout in the second half of 1983 under the name “VISIONS”.

Sales spiked during the mid-1980s when Corning released a series of television commercials showing a traditional piece of metal cookware being melted inside a transparent Visions pot, touting the product line as withstanding heat that will "turn ordinary sauce pans into sauce." It would become the number one selling cookware set for the next several years. Due to increased demand, Corning opened additional production lines in the US and Brazil.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Corning released additional Visions products lines including limited "Sculptured" versions for high-end dept stores, non-stick versions featuring a Silverstone coating, and additional colors.

Sales declined in the US over the 1990s and early 2000s and the product line is now sold at higher end price points via "CorningWare, Corelle, & More" outlet stores and Corelle Brands websites. Visions has remained popular overseas, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where custom product lines have been created specifically for that market.