About the artist
Richard Bideau
Meet the artist — Richard Bideau
Working in porcelain on the potter’s wheel, Richard has refined his bottle forms over three decades to produce an elegant form that brings out the best in the crystals present in the glazes he uses. Crystalline glazes are specially formulated to permit the growth of large crystals.
'I have now been developing these glazes for over 25 years and have tested well over 10,000 different compositions. The fascination in the glaze derives partially from its unpredictability; effects can be controlled to some extent but the same effect can never be reproduced exactly.
My current interest is in glazes that have richly developed backgrounds of secondary crystals. These are drawn from nature: lichen on a dry stone wall, mossy boulders in a secluded river and glittering quartz crystal in a rugged gritstone outcrop, to name but some of my inspirations.'
