Warja's husband, the artist Gottfried Honegger, was commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Geigy in Ardsley, New York, to set up its own advertising department. At first he went alone, but when Warja finished the paintings for Saffa, she too traveled to New York in 1958. They rented a penthouse in the building called "London Terrace" at 29th Street and 9th Ave. On one side she could see the big passenger ships on the Hudson River, on the other side at night she could admire the Empire State Building. Warja had few commissions mainly for the Geigy company and the children were in school. So, she began to paint large gouaches, in which she could process the impressions of the big city and painting newfound friends such as Sam Francis, George Sugarman, Al Held and Mark Rothko. In particular, the freedom with which the artist friends worked made a great impression on her and she freed herself. In Chinatown she found the first Leporellos, empty booklets in which she began to paint. She created William Tell and Little Red Riding Hood. Both books were published by the Museum of Modern Art New York.
In the spring of 1959 the family moved back to Europe. Warja and Gottfried, as well as their daughter Cornelia stayed in Paris, while Bettina began her studies at the Zurich School of Applied Arts. In Paris they bought an apartment on Rue Gassendi where Warja continued to live and work after she and Gottfried separated. Gottfried bought a studio in the Rue Daguerre. Fortunately, Adrien Maeght's lithography printing shop was also on Rue Daguerre and when he included her in his edition, Warja was able to go there every day to accompany the printing of her books and make corrections. She had a wonderful relationship with the printers and loved this work very much. This resulted in a beautiful series of books that are still printed today, however no longer by hand.
