Claus Josef Riedel

Claus Josef Riedel (19 February 1925 – 17 March 2004) was a Czech-born Austrian glassmaker, businessman, professor of chemistry, and chemical engineer. He was the 9th-generation owner of Riedel Crystal, an Austrian glassware manufacturer that was established in 1756. Riedel is best known for creating and producing grape variety-specific glassware designed to enhance types of wines based on specific properties of individual grape varieties. He was among the first glassware experts in history to recognize that the taste of wine is affected by the shape of the glass from which it is consumed, and is credited with first discovering the concept of variety-specificity in glassware, developing variety-specific glassware shapes and bringing these glasses to the consumer market. Riedel served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Riedel Crystal from 1957 until 1994.

Claus Riedel was born in Polaun, Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), to Walter Riedel, a glassmaker, and Claudia Prollius Riedel. Claus Riedel was drafted by the German Army in World War II, where he fought Italian partisans in Tuscany and Liguria. In March 1945 he was captured by American forces and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp near Pisa, Italy for ten months. In January 1946, while being returned to Germany for repatriation, Riedel escaped by jumping from a train entering Austria.

Riedel remained in Austria, finding a job with glassmaker Daniel Swarovski, who had once been an apprentice to Riedel’s great-grandfather Josef Riedel. He also enrolled in the University of Innsbruck in Tyrol, where he studied chemistry. After graduating, he spent five years working various jobs throughout Europe. In 1955 he was contacted by The Austrian People’s Party Prime Minister, Reinhard Kamitz, who invited him to take over the bankrupt Tiroler Glashütte glassware factory.

...
Wikipedia