House of Fabergé
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The House of Fabergé was a jewellery firm founded by the Russian jeweller Gustav Fabergé in 1842 in the Imperial Russian capital of Saint Petersburg. His son Peter Carl Fabergé greatly developed the business, and opened a Moscow branch in 1886. Further branches opened in Odessa (1890-1918), London (first at 415 Oxford Street 1904-1906, then 48 Dover Street 1907-1911 and lastly 173 New Bond Street 1911-1917) and Kiev (1906-1910). In 1916 the House of Fabergé was converted to a joint stock company. During World War I Fabergés craftsmen were drafted and the workshops were obliged to produce shell castings and hand grenades. In 1917 Fabergé transferred the firms management to his employees. The House of Fabergé was closed down by the Bolsheviks in 1917 after the October Revolution.
In 1918, Peter Carl Fabergé fled first to Berlin and later to Wiesbaden and Switzerland, where he died in 1920. In 1924, two of Carl Fabergé's sons, Eugene, the eldest, and Alexander founded a new firm in Paris, "Fabergé & Cie", with the aim of continuing production where their father had left off in 1917. However, times and tastes had changed. Their 18th century inspired wares found no response in a Paris vibrant with the new idiom of Art Deco. The family finally sold the rights to the famous name.
[edit] Fabergé jewellery today
The rights to the Fabergé name outside Russia are owned by the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever through the New York-based Fabergé cosmetics company. It owns the brand names Fabergé, House of Fabergé, and Fabergé Co., which are distributed to licencees.
In 1989, Fabergé Inc. appointed the Pforzheim jeweler Victor Mayer as the exclusive worldwide Fabergé workmaster. The company produces heirloom quality Fabergé jewellery and Fabergé eggs. Fabergé expert Geza von Habsburg writes in his 2005 publication[1] "Today Fabergé (Workmaster Victor Mayer) has recaptured its place among the most successful international jewellers, continuing a famous tradition of German craftsmanship reaching back through the centuries."
