Bouke de Vries was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He initially trained in design before transitioning to ceramics conservation and restoration. His work as a private conservator, where he encountered questions of perfection and value daily, became the foundation of his artistic practice.

Using his skills as a restorer, de Vries creates artworks that reclaim broken pots after their accidental trauma, a process he refers to as "the beauty of destruction." Instead of reconstructing the objects, he deconstructs them. Rather than concealing the evidence of these dramatic episodes in a ceramic object's life, he highlights their altered state, granting them a new status and moving their stories forward.