Alexandre Kostanda

Alexandre Kostanda was a ceramist who was born in Poland in 1924 and died in Vallauris, France, on 19 November 2007.
He was apprenticed to Louis Giraud in Vallauris in 1936 and taught ceramics in Biot. He moved to Cluny in Saône-et-Loire in 1942.
At the end of the war, he taught throwing and pottery at the Faïenceries de Longchamps apprenticeship centre in Côte-d’Or. He taught the four founders of the Accolay workshops.
In 1949, he returned to Vallauris to take charge of Louis Giraud’s workshop.
Alexandre Kostanda founded his own workshop in 1953. He brought stoneware clay from Cluny, which could withstand higher firing temperatures, and mixed it with Vallauris clay.
He was one of the ceramists who organised the Vallauris International Ceramic Biennial in 1968.
His work, which was sensual and plastic in the early days, evolved into more refined ceramics with floral or abstract motifs. The decorations were often painted by her mother Irène, a former “Ripolin” decorator at Giraud.
In Vallauris, despite the shimmering colours of the local ceramics, Alexandre Kostanda maintains a predilection for muted colours, close to the natural hues of the clay.
His ceramics, although rustic in appearance, are surprising in their finesse and balanced proportions, revealing Kostanda’s exceptional technical mastery.