Johann Loetz found the glass works in Bohemia’s Klášterský Mlýn in 1840 and a few years later the firm was taken on by his widow, after which the firm bore the name Glasfabrik Johann Loetz Witwe. The Loetz works was among the most well-regarded producers and leading firms in the design of glass objects in Art Nouveau style, and their production of iridised glass was particularly to the fore.
At the Paris exhibition of 1900, Loetz won a Grand Prix for the making of decoration that was very popular and was called the Phänomen decor.