BONIFAS Paul

Paul Ami Bonifas was born in 1893 in Geneva. After his studies, he attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts while working as an apprentice engraver and jeweller in his father's workshop. His interest in enamel led him to research glass and ceramics. In 1914, he set up a workshop near Geneva and, after working in Paris, returned to Switzerland in 1922 and bought a pottery workshop. His work corresponds to the purist spirit of the 1920s; eager to highlight the mechanical processes of shaping, Bonifas often resorts to moulding. He is distinguished by his glossy black glazes and crackled whites. In 1945, he left for the United States to teach ceramics at Washington State University; in 1959, he retired from teaching to devote himself to his work, until his death in 1967.