Quezal Glass

Biography

The company was founded in Queens, New York, in 1902 by Martin Bach, Sr., a German immigrant and former head batch-mixer/chemist at the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, and Thomas Johnson, a skilled glassblower who also left Tiffany's employ. The name "Quezal" was trademarked in 1902 and references the brilliantly colored plumage of the Central American quetzal bird, inspiring the iridescent designs the company produced. 

After Martin Bach Sr. died in 1921, his son Martin Bach Jr. took over, but the company struggled and art glass production essentially ceased by 1924, shifting to industrial items like glass headlights. Many of its skilled artisans, including Martin Bach Jr. and Emil Larson, then moved to work for the Durand Art Glass division of the Vineland Flint Glass Works.