After fleeing the Czech coup and eventually arriving in New Zealand he started work for Crown Lynn and later established his own pottery.

His two pottery kilns in Te Horo are scheduled as a category 2 historic place by Heritage New Zealand Smíšek was born in the Bohemia region of Czechoslovakia in 1925.

[1] After spending most of World War II in labour camps due to his efforts in the anti-Nazi resistance movement, he fled Europe in 1948 after the Czech coup.

[3] He worked for the Crown Lynn pottery in Auckland where he created the "Bohemia Ware" line in manganese slip glaze, before moving to Nelson in 1952.

[10] In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours, Smíšek was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to pottery.

The New Zealand Transport Agency agreed to preserve the kilns and carefully moved them to a nearby location.

[19] Smíšek's two beehive kilns in Te Horo are registered as a category 2 historic place by Heritage New Zealand.