Alexandre Bigot

(b Mer, nr Blois, 5 Nov 1862; d Paris, 1927). French ceramics manufacturer. He was initially a physics and chemistry teacher and in 1889 visited the Exposition Universelle in Paris, where he saw Chinese porcelain with opaque glazes that enhanced the ground colours and emphasized the forms of the body. He transferred this technique to stoneware, a less expensive material that has the advantage of being able to withstand great variations of temperature when fired. In this way, with one type of ceramic body, it is possible to vary the degree to which enamels are fused in order to obtain dull, oily or crystalline finishes in the greatest possible variation of colours.

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