A permanent frosted mark cut into the glass that survives the dishwasher rack and the years.
Laser engraving cuts your logo into the surface of the glass itself, so the mark is part of the glass rather than a layer sitting on top of it.
A laser, usually paired with a rotary fixture that spins the glass as it works, etches your artwork into the surface. The result is a frosted, satin-toned mark you can feel with a fingertip. It reads as a single tone in the same frosted color regardless of what the original logo color was, because there is no ink involved. The laser is removing a thin layer of glass, not adding anything to it.
That single-tone look is the defining trait. An engraved logo has the understated, etched-crystal quality you see on tasting-room glassware and good rocks glasses, which is part of why distilleries lean on it.
Because the mark is cut into the glass, there is nothing to scrub off. A printed logo lives on the surface and can fade after enough trips through a high-heat commercial wash. An engraved mark cannot fade, because it is a change in the glass itself. Run an engraved glass through a bar dishwasher a thousand times and it looks the same on the last cycle as the first. For a busy back bar, that durability is the whole point.
Engraving wants clean, single-tone artwork. A wordmark, a line-art logo, a crest — anything that works in one color translates well. Fine lines and small text reproduce nicely as long as the file is vector, so the laser has clean edges to follow.
Where engraving struggles is anything that depends on color or on smooth gradients. A logo built around a specific brand color loses that color entirely, since the mark comes out frosted no matter what. Heavy photographic fills and tight color gradients do not translate to a single etched tone. If your logo lives or dies by its color, that is the signal to look at printing instead. See our artwork requirements for the file formats that engrave cleanest.
Engraving is the usual choice for spirits-forward glassware where a refined, etched look fits the product. Glencairn nosing glasses and whiskey rocks glasses are the two we engrave most, because a frosted single-tone mark suits whiskey service and stands up to constant washing. It is also the method for metal items like flasks, tumblers, and bar tools, which cannot be screen printed and are engraved instead.
Reach for screen printing when color is part of your brand or your logo carries more than one tone. Printing matches PMS colors and handles full-color and multi-color art, which engraving cannot. A brewery whose label is built on a specific orange, or a logo with two distinct colors, is better served by ink on the glass than by a frosted etch. The two methods cover different needs, and for some logos either one works — when that is the case, it comes down to whether you want the etched look or the brand color.
Not sure which way to go? Send us your logo and we will tell you how it engraves.
Send us the pieces and quantities you need and we’ll come back with per-case and per-unit pricing.