Fabergé Opens Boutique in London

The Fabergé brand continues its return to the world of luxury jewelry under its new owners by opening a store in London. In addition, the company said its watches and jewelry are now available in London’s Harrod’s and it will soon open a store in New York.

It is the first time in a nearly a century that Fabergé, known for its iconic bejeweled eggs, has had a store in London. The boutique is located at 14A Grafton Street in Mayfair.

Due to the repatriation of Russian resources at the beginning of the First World War, the last Fabergé store in London closed in 1915. The store at 173 Bond Street, was visited by royalty, nobility, potentates, tycoons, socialites and connoisseurs from around the world. Fabergé first opened in London in 1906 at 48 Dover Street, moving to Bond Street in 1910.



The new store features a lilac façade that evokes the guilloche and enamel techniques for which Fabergé was renowned, the company said. The interior is a fusion of old and new.

In New York, Fabergé has secured 694 Madison Ave., which will open in spring 2012. In the meantime, Fabergé is hosting special seasonal “by appointment” previews at the Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South until December 30.

The new locations carry selections from the key Fabergé collections that include:

* The jewelry collections Les Fabuleuses de Fabergé, Saisons Russes, Le Carnet Bal and the Solyanka Treasures;

* Les Fameux de Fabergé, the recently released one-of-a-kind high jewelry egg pendants;

* Les Favorites de Fabrge, a collection of fine jewelry egg pendants with about 60 designs, rekindling the tradition of Fabergé as gifts for special occasions; and

* Fabergé Horlogerie, a collection of handmade men’s and women’s watches featuring the brand’s guilloche and enamel techniques.

These are the latest of several moves that the brand has made since it was purchased in 2007 by Pallinghurst Resources, a London-based private equity company, from Unilever, a consumers products company.

Pallinghurst reunited the Fabergé brand with the Fabergé family. Tatiana and Sarah Fabergé, great granddaughters of Peter Carl Fabergé, together with John Andrew, make up the Fabergé Heritage Council. which guides the unified Fabergé in its pursuit of Fabergé’s original values, philosophy and spirit. Géza von Habsburg, a leading Fabergé expert and author, serves as Fabergé’s curatorial director.

In 2009, the company launched new jewelry collections, a website and its first boutique in Geneva.

More recently, in July, the company launched the Les Fameux de Fabergé one-of-a-kind high jewelry egg pendants and the Les Favorites de Fabrge fine jewelry egg pendants.

Fabergé was founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1842 by Gustav Fabergé, whoc moved from France to Russia in the 1830s to train as a goldsmith. Gustav’s son, Peter Carl Fabergé (born in 1846) led the firm to worldwide renown, winning the favor of the Imperial Romanov family in the 1880s and the award of the Grand Prix at the 1900 World Fair in Paris.

In 1917, the Russian Revolution brought an abrupt end to the Romanov dynasty, and to the House of Fabergé. The company was nationalized, all production closed down and Peter Carl Fabergé and his family fled Russia. He died in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1920.

By the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, Fabergé had produced more than 155,000 items spanning jewelry, objects, tableware and accessories ranging from cigarette cases to crochet hooks. The first of the 50 legendary and world famous Imperial Fabergé Eggs was the “Hen Egg” of 1885, with the “Steel Military Egg” of 1916 being the last completed. Two eggs were in preparation in 1917 but were not finished. A handful of egg objects were made as private commissions, including the Rothschild egg, which was sold recently at auction by Christies for $19.5 million.

In a second blow, the Fabergé family in 1951 lost the rights to use their family name in selling Fabergé-labeled designs when protracted and expensive litigation forced them to cede these rights to an American corporation for $25,000.

More recently, Unilevel had the rights to the company before selling it to Pallinghurst Resources.

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Fabergé Unveils Advertising Campaign for the Next Generation

The House of Fabergé has just released a new print advertising campaign with world renowned fashion photographer Mario Testino that aims to reinterpret Fabergé for a new generation.

The idea behind the campaign was to capture the spirit and personality of youth by shooting real young people interacting with their friends, Fabergé said in a statement. Josh Fabergé, a young Fabergé descendent, was chosen as a model for the campaign along with three of his contemporaries—Mélanie de Pouqueville, Nina Flohr and Sophia Flohr.

In addition to Testino, the team behind the black and white advertising campaign include: Katharina Flohr, Fabergé creative and managing director, fashion stylist Carine Roitfeld and makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury.

“We wanted to celebrate la jeunesse doree (gilded youth) with this campaign and make Fabergé relevant to a younger audience,” Katharina Flohr said. “We invited Josh and his friends to discover Fabergé for themselves, engaging with the jewelry, mixing it up and layering the pendants however they like. The result is a compelling image that tells the story of a new generation reinterpreting Fabergé for their contemporaries.”

The new black and white visuals will run in spring issues of niche, trend-driven titles in key international markets, the brand said. It will feature Les Favorites de Fabergé—a collection of fine jewelry egg pendants that introduces a more accessible price point for young customers.

The new generation campaign complements Fabergé’s inaugural advertising campaign, also shot by Mario Testino, which was introduced in November 2011 promoting the company’s high jewelry product line, Fabergé said.

The new campaign features:

Zénaïde Sapphire Egg Pendant Locket
One of a series of three Fabergé egg locket pendants designed in the graphic style of traditional Uzbek textiles and named for the Princess Zénaïde Yusupov, a favorite of the Imperial family.

Oeuf Cadeau Egg Pendant
This egg pendant celebrates Fabergé’s art of giving. The polished rose gold egg is tied with a ribbon of diamonds, of over one carat, and fastened with a bow.

Oeuf Matelassé Diamants Egg Pendant
The small quilted egg pendant from the Matelassé series, recalls the fashionable jeweled egg pendants of the House of Fabergé. The soft, cushioned quilting in matt white gold is studded with white diamonds.

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Fabergé Invades London with an Egg for the Queen and an Easter Egg Hunt

The Fabergé Diamond Jubilee Egg.

Luxury jewelry house, Fabergé, has unveiled a custom bejeweled egg honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in London Tuesday as residents scoured the city streets to begin a 40-day hunt for elaborately decorated Easter eggs in a charity benefit.

Crafted with precisely 500 grams of rose gold, the design of the one-of-a-kind Diamond Jubilee Egg is topped with 60 gemstones—one for each year of the Queen’s reign—set in the pleats of its quilted rose gold surface and comprising diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires. Actress Emilia Fox displayed the egg during the unveiling outside the recently opened Fabergé London boutique.

Actress Emilia Fox with the Fabergé Diamond Jubilee Egg.

The Diamond Jubilee Egg is valued at $157,850 and is the top prize in the The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt. It will be on display at the Fabergé boutique from February 21 until April 1, and then at Harrods in Knightsbridge from April 2 -8.

More than 200 eggs, each around 2 ½ foot in height and designed and decorated by designers and artists have been “hidden” around central London as residents try to find the eggs. Each egg holds a unique code which, when texted to the number provided via SMS, provides an entry to win the Diamond Jubilee Egg. Each additional code submitted provides an additional entry, increasing the chances of winning the Diamond Jubilee Egg. Charges apply to each text message, with the proceeds going to the two charities: Action For Children and The Elephant Family. Fabergé seeks to raise one million pounds for each charity

The creative talent decorating the eggs represents many disciplines—including architects product designers, fashion houses, jewelry designers and artists. They include Marc Quinn, Chapman Brothers, Sir Peter Blake, Zaha Hadid, Nicky Haslam, Candy & Candy, Gordon Murray, Bruce Oldfield, Robinson Pelham, Sir Ridley Scott, Diane von Furstenberg and Mulberry.

Each of these works of art will be sold by auction to raise funds for the charities. See www.thebigegghunt.co.uk for more information.

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Fabergé Takes to E-Commerce

The House of Fabergé, known since the 19th Century as one of the most exclusive jewelers on the planet, is broadening its reach and moving into the 21st Century by offering its collections on an e-commerce website.

The “online boutique” is set to launch on April 16 and is designed to complement Fabergé’s existing network of retail stores, the company said in a statement, promising that the site will have “a signature blend of refined sophistication and modernity.”

Each of the Fabergé high and fine jewelry collections—Les Saisons Russes, Les Fabuleuses, Les Fameux, Le Carnet de Bal, Solyanka and Les Favorites—will be represented by a hand-painted illustrations that captures “the artistry, romance and legend of Fabergé,” the company said.

The site also features an interactive area where customers can engage further with the world of Fabergé, experiencing social projects such as the Mir Fabergé art initiative, available also as an iPad application.

Purchases can be made in multiple currencies, with international delivery service to at least 29 countries. Customers can also share and store their favorite jewelry designs through multiple social media channels.

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Fabergé and Gemfields Finalize Merger

Gemfields has already started promoting its emeralds through an advertising campaign.

The iconic luxury brand, Fabergé, has completed its merger with colored gemstone miner and distributor, Gemfields. The merger, first announced in November, creates what has been planned all along for Gemfields since its founding fewer than 10 years ago: a way to produce a mine-to-market template for its colored gemstones.

Gemfields owns a majority stake of the Kagem mine in Zambia, which produces emeralds and amethysts, a mine in Mozambique for rubies, and prospecting licenses for other gemstones in Madagascar. Emeralds from Kagem are by far the company’s biggest product.

The plan is that Gemfields will provide an ethical and traceable source of providing its gemstones to consumers, thus fueling demand for its product. To help create this demand, Gemfields already begun an advertising and marketing campaign for its Kagem emeralds.

The merger was managed by private equity mining giant, Pallinghurst, which owned indirect equity interests of 33 percent in Gemfields and 49 percent in Fabergé and also held certain loan interests in Fabergé. After the transaction, Pallinghurst now owns 48 percent of the enlarged Gemfields. The deal reportedly values Fabergé at $142 million and was funded with 214 million shares in Gemfields.

Arne H. Frandsen, Pallinghurst chief executive, previously said that the merged company is the “next step in realizing our vision and strategy for our gemstones and luxury platform…. Once consummated, we will be well on the way to creating the colored gemstone equivalent of what De Beers has created for diamonds.”

“This transaction creates the world’s number one colored gemstone company, operating at both critical ends of the value chain,” Brian Gilbertson, Pallinghurst chairman, said Wednesday. “Gemfields can now take its vision for colored gemstones to the next level and Fabergé becomes the obvious consumer choice for high‐end, ethically supplied colored gemstone jewelry.”

Gemfields previously articulated a number of benefits of the transaction. They include:

* Positioning U.K.-based Gemfields with Fabergé’s heritage operating in the two most profitable segments within the gemstone supply chain;

* Advancing Gemfields’ “Mine and Market” strategy;

* Positioning Fabergé as the colored gemstone retailer of choice within the hard luxury retail sector, a sector with an estimated turnover of $54 billion in 2011 according to the Bain Luxury Market Study;

* Creating marketing, communication, management and supply synergies to deliver operational efficiencies; and

* Creating a platform to further increase Gemfields’ market share within the colored gemstone sector, while gaining exposure to luxury sector multiples and greater influence over product positioning and consumer awareness.

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Fabergé Flies with VistaJet

Contemporary interpretation of the Fabergé by artist Ian Davenport on the tail of a Bombardier Global 6000.

Luxury jewelry brand, Fabergé, has teamed up with luxury aviation company, VistaJet, in a promotion that puts a contemporary spin on the company’s legendary heritage.

The two companies commissioned artist Ian Davenport to create a design for the tail of one of VistaJet’s flagship aircraft—the Bombardier Global 6000—that depicts a contemporary interpretation of the Fabergé egg. To launch this project, VistaJet customers will be able to purchase a limited edition collection of Fabergé Fine Jewellery egg pendants in the cabin this spring. 

Exclusive collection of Fabergé Fine Jewellery egg pendants for VistaJet.

Davenport's egg is colored in waves of different shades of red, blue and green that reflects on the guilloché enamel pattern that Fabergé applied to its Imperial Easter Eggs. “This design blends heritage and modernity which perfectly reflects our contemporary vision of Fabergé today,” said Katharina Flohr, Fabergé’s creative and managing director.

Exclusive to VistaJet, the collection of fine egg pendants comes in a variety of designs in gold, colored gemstones and enamel, reflecting Fabergé’s legendary artistry and craftsmanship. The designs are available on-board starting at $7,900.

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