Large stoneware roller vase by Alexandre Kostanda, Vallauris

Alexandre Kostanda (1924-2007)
Of Russian origin and born in Poland, he was an apprentice of Louis Giraud in Vallauris in 1936 then settled in Cluny in 1942. At the end of the war, he taught throwing and pottery at the Longchamp Faience Works training center in Côte-d'or. He will be the teacher of the four founders of the Accolay Potteries. In 1949, he returned to Vallauris to take over the management of Louis Giraud's workshops and then founded his own workshop from 1953. He was among the ceramists who organised the Vallauris International Ceramics Biennial in 1968.