Raphael Giarrusso, painter and ceramist, was born on March 29, 1925 in Montreal, Canada. Raphaël became interested in drawing and painting at a very young age. He thus studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Montreal from 1942 to 1947. At the age of 23, he obtained a scholarship from the Canadian government, and moved to Paris in 1948 to paint. In August 1953 Raphael was hired by André Boutaud at the Poteries d’Accolay, in the Yonne, where he worked as a decorator for about 10 years. Here he became familiar with the world of ceramics, working with Daniel Auger, a turner, Fedor Iodtschine, a chemist assigned to enamels, but also with the ceramist Georges Pelletier, the sculptors Francois Brochet and Pierre Merlier and the painter Georges Hosotte, among the best known artists who temporarily lent their talent to the various experiments in Accolay ceramics.

Raphael left the Poteries d'Accolay in October 1963 to set up his own studio at 9 rue Guilbert Latour in Vermenton where he devoted himself with passion to the art of ceramics. He produced numerous pieces, medieval characters imbued with humor and dignity, various stylized animals expressing strength and life, lamp bases, and vases.

For several years, part of his production was exhibited and sold in Paris at Roche Bobois. Raphaël also regularly participated in the Salon des Ateliers d'Art in Paris, Porte de Versailles. Subsequently, he exhibited mainly in galleries in Icaunais (Auxerre, Vézelay, Laroche-Migennes, Noyers, Avallon). His last exhibition took place in Vermenton in July 1985 and presented a series of modeled heads revealing both his torments and his love of man, as well as some recent paintings done in pastel. Raphaël Giarrusso had decided to return to painting but following a ruptured aneurysm, he died at the Dijon Hospital on January 21, 1986.