Last Updated: Jul 26, 2019     Views: 312

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From the Frequently Asked Questions page on The Corning Museum of Glass website

What Does the CMoG Symbol Stand for?

The CMoG symbol could be a stylized representation of a glory hole, the hole in the side of a glass furnace, used to reheat glass objects while they are being made, but there is no official meaning. In a July 1978 letter from Arthur A. Houghton, a past president of Steuben who was influential to the Corning Glass Center's development, to Otto W. Hilbert, a Corning Glass Works employee, Houghton stated:

"We felt the need of an identifying symbol that would be equally effective if large (as on a highway sign) or small (as on a match box cover or as a printer’s logo.) It was strong, simple, colorful and easily identified and remembered."

The original logo was similar to the current “bull’s eye” design, but featured a blue outer ring, then a white ring, and a red center ring, which connected to the blue ring with a straight line.

"From that moment to this I have not the vaguest idea what the symbol signifies. You are quite free to interpret the arcane meaning of this masterpiece of art in any way that you wish. If people wonder what it is, and talk and argue at length about it, what more could we want?"

The logo was redrawn and rendered in one color in 1999. The symbol was redrawn to be in proportion with the letterforms used in the square “CMOG” logo.

Our archivist has not come across anything that relates to the logo. It is possible that documentation was lost in the flood of 1972, when many museum records were lost. We do have more information on the logo redesign in 1999.

Comments (1)

  1. I have always felt that the logo is simply an artistic rendering of a catadioptric lens.
    by Bill Mammosser on Jul 17, 2018

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