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GLau's second installment on his meeting with master enameler Anita Porchet offers an intimate look into her formative years and the evolution of her craft. This article delves into Porchet's personal journey, from her early apprenticeship to establishing her own atelier, providing crucial context for understanding the unparalleled artistry seen in her collaborations with brands like Patek Philippe.
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.
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.
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.🤣 
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.
Very very interesting indeed Best Hans
…an amazingly talented artist ! Many thanks Gordon for this interesting detailed article about Mrs AP and her amazing work 👍👌👌
read my post about the "daring" straps www.watchprosite.com
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
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 !
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