About the artist:
Jean Pierre Spetzler was born into an old Zurich bookbinding family. He completed an apprenticeship with Thorvald Henningsen, one of the leading masters of the art of bookbinding, who had a lasting influence on Spetzler’s passion for the craft.
From 1954 onwards, he studied hand gilding with Raymond Mondage at the École Estienne in Paris. He subsequently first worked in finishing, especially gilding, in Geneva before he attended the Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich. In 1957, he started working as employee with former master Thorvald Henningsen at the studio at Napfgasse 4 in Zurich and became his closest collaborator. After Josef Stemmle took over the workshop in 1972, Spetzler became its head, initially still at Napfgasse, later at Hardturmstrasse.