Jiri Bures trained as an architect then managed an interior design studio in Prague before establishing his own graphic design studio in Germany in 1979. He moved to Australia in 1982 and set up a studio and gallery at Bondi Beach in Sydney, making slipcast ceramics in an expressionist or pop art style. In 1989 he was invited to exhibit in Los Angeles and stayed there for five years. On his return to Australia, he and his wife Ivanka moved their business to the Rocks, operating their JB Studio there from 1996-2003. Since 2004, Bures has lived mostly in Prague, also spending time in London, and has broadened his artistic practice to painting and illustration, jewellery and glass. Ceramic work made in Australia may be marked with a painted or incised 'Bures' or 'Bures Australia'.