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WINDOW INTO WISSMACH Company President Mark Feldmeier on staying relevant in a changing market. The stained glass market is no longer growing—there aren’t as many church windows being made, and the Tiffany lampshade business declined after the 1990s and 2000s . So we got into fusing around 2008, in order to enhance our business. We got a few experts to help develop formulas to make the fusing glass. We’re always trying to develop new colors and patterns, new textures. A lot of times the textures that we make were recommended to us by customers—or maybe they’re doing a historical project and they’re trying to match a certain type of glass. We’ve done that three or four times in the past 20 years. The market is constantly changing, and we have to stay right on top of it. We try to be a leader as far as developing new products. The retail part of the industry has declined, but we’re selling to a lot more manufacturers, like swimming pool and tile manufacturers. We stay on top of that by going to trade shows.
after college. Now he serves as the company’s president. A little over a decade ago, Wissmach introduced a separate line of kiln glass. “With kiln glass, or fusing glass, you’re taking two or more pieces and reheating them to make a piece of art,” Feldmeier explains. A growing market, kiln glass is used by everyone from crafters to fine artists. Wissmach sells its glass primarily through distributors to retailers, but always maintains ties directly with the artist community. “We keep in touch with artists who are using our
glass, because so many new techniques are being developed all the time,” Feldmeier says. “We’ve done that maybe more in the last 10 years, with the
fusing market, but we’ve always done it.” It’s a savvy move that may in part explain the company’s longevity. wissmachglass.com written by pam kasey photographed by carla witt ford
1960 The company drops its Neo-Flash and wire glass lines to concentrate on producing colored rolled sheet glass.
1980 Marguerite Vollmar, company president since 1938, dies, and longtime plant manager Paul Feldmeier, Sr., takes the helm.
2008 Wissmach complements its established stained glass with a new line of kiln glass to serve a growing artists’ market.
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