Alexandre Kostanda (1921-2007)

His parents were of Russian origin and arrived in Vallauris in 1929 . His mother started working as a decorator at Louis Giraud’s Pottery. As an apprentice at the same pottery in 1936-1938, Alexandre Kostanda learned to apply decoration to biscuit-ware. After having taught in various art schools in France, he returned to Vallauris in 1949 where he was put in charge of Louis Giraud’s Pottery.

In 1953, he set up his own pottery and joined the Association des Amis du Musée de Vallauris . He organized the French National Ceramics show at Vallauris better known as the Vallauris Biennale.

Alexandre Kostanda was one of the few to use Cluny stoneware paste, which he mixed with Vallauris red-clay and fired in the first gas fired kilns. The slips he used on his stoneware, which were specially prepared to vitrify during firing, were restricted in range from brown to rust-red. He excelled in robust forms bearing visible signs of interventions by the potter’s hand.

Biography

La Céramique française des années 50, Pierre Staudenmeyer, Norma Editions, bilingual edition

70 ans d’expression céramique française, P.Chambost - P.Marziano - A.Serpollet, Editions Les livres de l’îlot