Anna Weatherly believes that your table should be a reflection of the garden - all the beautiful colors and flowers are mixed together!
My porcelain is hand painted by a group of highly skilled artists in my studio in Budapest, Hungary. This method of painting is a "dying art form", the product of long hours of work on each object.
Fine hatching, small brush strokes, intricate details are the result of a very laborious process. This wide variety of patterns can be coordinated with both modern and traditional interior decor.
These are the words of Anna herself about her works.
Gallery of delightful tea items:
Anna Weatherly's biography is unusual, full of unexpected twists and turns, bright moments and nothing foretold that she would become a porcelain designer!
In her youth, Anna moved from her native Hungary to Australia. There she studied art and design and soon became fascinated with Afghanistan, so she started a business importing furniture and textiles from Kabul to Sydney.
She then settled in Washington, but her passion for design did not fade, so she returned to the bazaars of Afghanistan, where she found unusual weapons for buyers from Australia.
Then Anna turned to fashion. In the 1970s and 1980s, she created a successful couture business, making bespoke dresses in hand-painted and embroidered silk. Among her clients were Elizabeth Taylor, Lady Bird Johnson, Jane Fonda.
But after the stock market crash in 1987, the demand for her expensive dresses began to fall, so Anna decided to return home to Hungary.
In the early 1990s, she opened a studio in Budapest and worked with her artists to create a collection of hand-painted porcelain based on botanical art.
Anna's design reflects her love and admiration for the craftsmanship of the 16th and 18th century botanical artists, which she studied during her trips to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
She even took books on botany to Budapest to show her artists.
Inspired by the botanical work of Thomas Hooker, Anna's plate also features two adorable butterflies, a dragonfly and a beetle peeking out from under a leaf.
Anna's first collection, released in 1993, was named Redoubt Gardens after the famous French botanist Pierre-Joseph Redoubt.
Its purpose was to honor the artist's spirit without copying it exactly.
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840) was a Belgian-born French painter and botanist, royal painter and lithographer, master of botanical illustration. His inflation-discounted album of watercolor illustrations, The Lilies, is the most expensive printed book in history.
Gallery of artist's works:
This was followed by "Hooker Fruit", a collection of plates and serving items based on drawings by Joseph Hooker from the 1890s. Alexander Marshall's tulips were next.
Gallery of delicate floral motifs on vases and jugs:
“One day I got a call from Budapest and was told that the artists had just finished one of my collections and found a big black spot all over the porcelain,” says Anna.
Weatherly followed the lead of one of the world's largest porcelain manufacturers, Meissen.
“At the Smithsonian, I learned that in the early days when Masen had such problems, they were sometimes painted over with bugs.”
A new direction in design was born. “Beetles became my best-seller with the advent of Budapest Spring, a subtle arrangement dominated by butterflies.
Then came the Treasure Garden, inspired by the German artist Georg Ehret.
The Kitchen Garden was inspired by the seventeenth-century Florentine artist Giovanna Garzoni and the French painter Jacques le Moyne de Morgue, who painted vegetables and fruits.
I hope you have been inspired by these wonderful pieces of porcelain!
