Alexandre Bigot was trained in the sciences before eventually excelling in the arts. He obtained a degree in physics in 1884. He also held a doctorate in chemistry and was interested very early on in creating enamels resembling natural gems. After a brief stint in the studio of Paul Beyer (1873-1945) in Switzerland, and recognizing the limits imposed on setting up a laboratory in Paris, in 1889 Bigot set up his first kiln in Aunay, his hometown (today called Aulnay, now a district within the city limits of Mer. The same year, he became one of a number of artists of his generation who were attracted to the eastern ceramic wares that they saw at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris. Among Bigot's contemporaries who saw these examples was Jean-Joseph Carriès, who like Bigot had his own studio and was engaged in research on ceramics, knowledge which he began to refine upon meeting Bigot. The two artists began a correspondence on the subject and Bigot became extremely interested in Carriès' work. Bigot's knowledge of chemistry allowed him to become an adviser to Ernest Chaplet for his sculpture and Carriès as well as a collaborator with the chemist Henry Le Chatelier. On the practical side (turning and modeling), he benefitted from the advice of Raphaël Tessier (1860-1937).