Charles Bacik (; 25 June 1910 – 11 July 1991) was a Czech-Irish glass manufacturer and co-founder of the modern

Waterford Glass Waterford Crystal is an Irish manufacturer of Lead glass, crystal glassware, especially cut glass products. It is named after the city of Waterford in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base o ...

Biography

He was born in

Nová Říše Nová Říše (; ) is a market town in Jihlava District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 900 inhabitants. Geography Nová Říše is located about south of Jihlava. It lies in the Křižanov Highlands. The highest point ...

in Bohemia, then a part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

. He went on to study and graduated from

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague, and began working in

Bohemian glass Bohemian glass (), also referred to as Bohemia crystal (''český křišťál''), is glass produced in the regions of Bohemia and Silesia, now parts of the Czech Republic. It has a centuries long history of being internationally recognised for its ...

manufacturing in

Světlá nad Sázavou Světlá nad Sázavou (; ) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,400 inhabitants. It is known for a large women's prison. Administrative division Světlá nad Sázavou consists of 15 ...

in 1935. By the time of the Communist takeover, he owned four glass factories. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was imprisoned by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. In 1946, as his factories were nationalised, he emigrated to Ireland. In 1947, in partnership with a Dublin gift shop owner, Bernard Fitzpatrick, he started Waterford Glass. In 1950, the company was in financial difficulties and he ceded ownership to the Irish Glass Bottle Company. He continued to work for the company as a manager until 1974 and as a board member until 1984. He died in 1991 at Rathmore House,

Fiddown Fiddown () is a small village in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the south of the county, just off the N24 road, south of Kilkenny city. The village is on the banks of the River Suir, near the border with County Waterford to which ...

, County Kilkenny, Ireland. His granddaughter,

Ivana Bacik Ivana Catherine Bacik () (born 25 May 1968) is an Irish politician who has been the Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South ...

, is an Irish politician and academic.

References

Sources

* Brian F. Havel, ''Maestro of Crystal'', Currach Press, 2005, biography of Miroslav Havel, a glass designer who worked with Bacik both in Czechoslovakia and Ireland. 1910 births 1991 deaths Glass makers Czechoslovak emigrants to Ireland People from Nová Říše {{CzechRepublic-bio-stub