Hiemer & Co. Stained Glass Studio

A family owned business for four generations Hiemer & Company has been creating new and restoring aged stained glass windows since 1931.  This firm specializes in ecclesiastical work with trained liturgical artists who are familiar with Church iconography.  The permanent staff of certified journeymen specialize in traditional and contemporary liturgical design.  All members of the firm are highly skilled and experienced with large scale restorations, artistic replications and window renovations.  As a full service studio, we are able to perform all aspects of a project from concept to installation.  Our craftsmen are dedicated to excellence and strive to bring each project, large or small, to a successful conclusion.

The Hiemer legacy began with Georg Hiemer who was an independent stained glass designer in Munich Germany until taking a position as art director at the Von Gerichten Studios where his son, Edward, then apprenticed.  Edward left Europe after WWI to join the studio's Ohio branch where he met and married the firm's secretary, Elsie Killian.  Not long after, his parents came to Ohio to be with their only child.  The Von Gerichten studio struggled after the stock market crash and eventually collapsed.  Edward, Georg, and other members of the firm came together to form Edward W. Hiemer & Company in order to fulfill some of the demised firm's outstanding contracts. 

The firm moved to Paterson, NJ, and in 1949 built the current studio in Clifton, NJ.  Edward apprenticed his son Gerhard in the firm and he took over the operation upon Edward's passing in 1969.  With artistic tastes changing and architectural forms taking on new design, Gerry sought new artists and styles for the firm's stained glass.  He also expanded into window renovations and replacement frames.  There was also an increasing demand for restoration of the windows created for east coast churchs during the late 19th and early 20th century - some of them the works Georg from his days in Munich.  During this period, the studio retained a traditional apprenticeship program for the training of stained glass craftsmen.  The traditions of the Munich studios was retained assuring the ability to restore and in some cases recreate the windows of yore.  This method continues in the studio today assuring excellent restorations and replications.

Gerhard's daughter Judith and her husband James Van Wie currently head operations.  Judith is a trained liturgical artist and stained glass journeyman specializing in new stained glass for religious and secular spaces.  James came to the firm from an Information Technologies background and focuses on the restoration and renovation aspect of the craft.  The shift in demands in the market led James to study the techniques and practices of restoration being explored in the field.  This firm adheres to sympathetic approaches to restoration seeking to retain as much of the original fabric of a window as possible.  Our basic methods are those learned by the German studios from working on the ancient windows.  These are tried and true having stood the test of time. 

New works by Hiemer & Company may be seen in over 1100 North American churches.