Hello All, This post is part 2 of 2 of my GTG with Anita Porchet, aka Enamel Queen 👸!

Jun 09, 2023,18:25 PM
 

Following the first post ( www.watchprosite.com  wink which provides interesting tidbits about certain references and enamel techniques, this one talks about Anita’s personal journey and selected milestone pieces that she worked on for various brands.




When she was 12, Anita started to perform horological enamel work with her godfather who was an engraver and also into enameling.  Till 15, she worked on base layer to understand the trade, and thereafter she moved on to try miniature painting and learned about how different colors would appear at different temperatures.  


As a teenager, she painted an enamel piece and gave it as a gift to her mother, who must have been proud but had no idea how important her daughter would become. 


What do you think of this piece Anita (as a teenager) painted and gifted it to her mother ? ☝️


By 18, she moved away and attended art school to learn about drawings for 4 years.  While there, she met Ms. Elisabeth Juillerat, an enamel school teacher who took Anita under her wing and taught her about enamel techniques on a part time basis.  After school hours, she would design and work on enamel dials.  On the weekends, she would bring them back to her god-father's atelier to put the dials in the kiln to finish producing them.  During these years, Anita learned and honed her enameling techniques with cloisonne, champleve and miniature painting.

Although her passion was enamelling, such work was not available upon graduation and she worked as an art teacher full time for a number of years.  Undeterred, Anita continued working on enamel dials as her hobby outside of work.  She enjoys the serine environment of a work-shop and the opportunity to listen to music while "working" as she attains inner-calm.  When her daughter was born in 1992, she stopped teaching and opened up an atelier in her home, and that is when her calling for the enamel profession started.


Jobs came slowly in the beginning to mid 90s with lesser known brands.  Her first gig was to produce an enamel painting of a boat on one pocket watch for an independent brand.  The next project from Jaquet-Droz involving two pocket watches requiring paillonne enamelling which was last used by the brand in 1780s.  This two pocket watches took two year to make !  Anita had to research the paillonne technique to understand it, find the appropriate materials/supplies from and work with other craftsmen, and perform by trial and error to perfect the tasks.



Two of these paillonne dials☝️took two years !!!


Most intriguing work came later with Patek having her create a unique cloisonné dial based on a photo from a VIP for a motif of his male pigeon that won a beauty contest ! smile  Given her excellent work, Patek gave her another assignment, a unique cloisonné dial for the same VIP but for his female pigeon that won a beauty contest after the male !  I asked if the two pigeons looked the same, and Anita said they had different colors.🤣

She also worked on the painting of the globe for the Ulysse Tellurium 👇



Other brands such as Hermes and Chanel came calling and she would advise which techniques would work best for the motifs the brands wished to display.  Recently with the minute repeater AP manufacturer for the Code 11.59, she was provided with the artistic freedom to create whatever motifs she felt most appropriate👇




In her journey, in addition to her god-father, two special friends made a big difference in support and friendship.  First is her enamel teacher Ms Juillerat who helped Anita with the different techniques.  The second is Ms Suzanne Rohr (who worked with Philip Stern on many unique miniature painting pieces that are now displayed in Patek museum).  They met each other via Ms Juillerat and became good friends.  They would show each other their work and sharing experiences.  After knowing each other for over a decade, in around 2011, Suzanne became Anita's mentor and thereafter Anita's techniques for miniature paintings escalated even more.  Anita eventually became known as THE top in the world for such work. 


Ms Suzanne Rohr on the left and Ms Elisabeth Juillerat on the left

Below are two practice pieces that Anita did to hone her skills.  They look plenty good as “training” pieces !




The most challenging and fun piece for the Enamel Queen 👸 is the dial with three different techniques (champleve, paillonne and miniature painting) for “Judith” by Gustav Klimt. 



Again, it was an honor to have the GTG with Anita to understand more about her love for enameling.  What do you think of her journey and dials that she made ?

  login to reply

Comments: view entire thread

 

What a fantastic journey and talent

 
 By: hans_jorgen_1968 : June 9th, 2023-19:59
Very very interesting indeed Best Hans
login to reply

Glad you like the post Hans !

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-14:58
login to reply

What an amazing post about…

 
 By: Mike H : June 9th, 2023-21:17
…an amazingly talented artist ! Many thanks Gordon for this interesting detailed article about Mrs AP and her amazing work 👍👌👌
login to reply

You are welcome Mike ! Please

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-15:00
read my post about the "daring" straps www.watchprosite.com
login to reply

Fascinating journey that creates an even greater appreciation of her work and how she followed her passion for many years before receiving the recognition her work deserves.

 
 By: patekova : June 10th, 2023-00:03
I had the pleasure of meeting Anita a few years ago. She was as charming and humble as her enamel work is beautiful. Great story Gordon and well captured by you. Best, Patekova
login to reply

Hi Patekova, She is an excellent enamelist and a great

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-15:02
person who is humble and friendly. Hopefully I will meet her at the Tokyo exhibition and learn more about her work to share with forum members to poison you all more !
login to reply

Thanks anaroku ! We also had lots of smiles for

 
 By: GLau : June 12th, 2023-19:01
our GTG !
login to reply

Wait…pigeon??

 
 By: Patekfinity : June 10th, 2023-00:59
Gordon…thank you for the lovely composition and most informative history of AP. Greatly appreciate the time and effort you have put into this…especially right before the Grand Exhibition in Japan!! I thought you were on the way there already and yet still... 
login to reply

Indeed, it would be an unique pleasure to see them here.

 
 By: Pun : June 10th, 2023-02:25
Thanks for posting. Regards
login to reply

Let me ask Anita to see

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-15:06
if it is possible !
login to reply

👍

 
 By: Pun : June 11th, 2023-03:04
login to reply

🙏🙏🙏

 
 By: Patekfinity : June 11th, 2023-12:50
🤩can’t wait!!
login to reply

As you requested, I asked the enamel queen 👸 , let’s

 
 By: GLau : June 11th, 2023-15:40
wait and see because of possible confidentiality issue
login to reply

🤞 😊

 
 By: Pun : June 11th, 2023-15:49
login to reply

Yes Pun , we all need to

 
 By: GLau : June 11th, 2023-16:44
have our fingers crossed 🤞!
login to reply

You are welcome ! I arrived Tokyo late night and made this post around 3am. :-) BTW, not pigeon, but

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-15:06
pigeonS ! 🤣 A male one first then followed by female. If I meet Anita at the exhibition, I will ask her whether she could share photos or not due to confidentiality reasons.
login to reply

Wonderful write up thanks for sharing 👏

 
 By: 111forza : June 10th, 2023-06:06
login to reply

Glad you enjoyed it !

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-15:07
login to reply

Bravo Gordon!

 
 By: Gus7 : June 10th, 2023-08:32
Great posts and really nice to have an insight into her world. I know how much you love enamel so it is also great you have had a chance to have this interaction with Anita. Thank you!
login to reply

You are welcome Gus7 !

 
 By: GLau : June 10th, 2023-15:07
Hopefully I will meet Anita in person again at Tokyo.
login to reply

Great post Gordon! Your finest post ever in my opinion!

 
 By: patrick_y : June 10th, 2023-15:11
Thank you for writing this great post Gordon! It was a pleasure to read!
login to reply

Beautifully written! Thank you.

 
 By: The Wellingtonian : June 11th, 2023-02:05
Truly appreciate the time and effort you have taken to organise this interview and then share it with the like minded. Your articles are a wealth of information and insight to the life and work of a contemporary artist. You must have had a great time talk... 
login to reply

Thanks for your kind comments which

 
 By: GLau : June 11th, 2023-15:38
keep me going on this type of posts ! More to come from my Tokyo exhibition trip !
login to reply

👌👌 Thank you !

 
 By: The Wellingtonian : June 12th, 2023-08:18
login to reply

Thank you to such a great post and beautiful story!

 
 By: quattro1000 : June 11th, 2023-09:00
login to reply

Glad you

 
 By: GLau : June 11th, 2023-15:38
liked it !
login to reply

Thanks doublesix ! Your specific comment on the last pic made me think why I did

 
 By: GLau : June 12th, 2023-19:04
NOT use it as the first photo to get more attention ! Live and learn.
login to reply

Amazing post - thank you

 
 By: Dauster : June 12th, 2023-21:38
I would be interested if there is anyone who can/ will take reign - 1) for miniature enamel paintings since Madame Rohr has retired and 2) if AP is helping educate a new geenration of enamel artists ?
login to reply

You are welcome !

 
 By: GLau : June 15th, 2023-10:01
Anita is now considered the top enameler, inclusive of miniature painting. What do you think of her paintings ? Anita has a small team that works with her and naturally she is supervising and teaching them.
login to reply

Thank you

 
 By: Stirling Newall : June 27th, 2023-14:28
Your effort and passion in producing these summaries are much appreciated.
login to reply

Thanks Sterling for your kind comments ! 👍

 
 By: GLau : July 4th, 2023-09:05
Your appreciation provides the strength 💪 for me to continue this type of posts !
login to reply

AN ENJOYABLE READ OF ANITA PORCHET'S MINI BIOGRAPHY

 
 By: vicunaman1 : June 27th, 2023-14:54
A GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO PP AND THE ART WORLD. MANY THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS.....
login to reply

You are welcome vicunaman1 !

 
 By: GLau : July 4th, 2023-09:06
Glad you liked this post. Did you read part 1 ?
login to reply

I MUST HAVE MISSED PART 1

 
 By: vicunaman1 : July 4th, 2023-15:36
login to reply

Here you go !

 
 By: GLau : July 5th, 2023-04:40
www.watchprosite.com
login to reply

ENJOYABLE READ

 
 By: vicunaman1 : July 5th, 2023-15:18
THANK YOU, GORDON. AFTER READING CHAPTER 1, MY CHAPTER 2 COMMENTS RE: MS PORCHET HAVE BEEN HEIGHTENED EXPONENTIALLY.... SINCERELY, STEVE
login to reply

You are welcome Steve !

 
 By: GLau : July 6th, 2023-09:00
Glad you liked chapter 1 !
login to reply

VERY MUCH SO, TKS

 
 By: vicunaman1 : July 6th, 2023-14:31
login to reply

Thanks ...

 
 By: small-luxury-world : July 5th, 2023-06:31
for sharing!
login to reply

I like that!

 
 By: small-luxury-world : July 7th, 2023-13:20
Still have good memories even when it was a l o n g time ago ;-)
login to reply

Thanks Gordon as always!

 
 By: GirlAndHerWatches : July 7th, 2023-15:30
Very hard to get allocated her work but at least we get to learn and enjoy here!
login to reply

You are welcome ! Have you

 
 By: GLau : July 10th, 2023-00:41
seen dials from rare handcrafts in the metal ? They are really poisonous ☠️ ! 😉
login to reply

I have and they are

 
 By: GirlAndHerWatches : July 13th, 2023-00:17
but your rousseau lion is especially poisonous
login to reply