The Laings Journal
In the pursuit of excellence, Fabergé creates jewellery and objects of art, brought to life through its world-renowned legacy and expertise. Worn on the red carpet by the likes of Dua Lipa, Winnie Harlow and Will Smith, Fabergé channels its heritage with spell binding design.
Does Fabergé make anything other than eggs?
Absolutely! In addition to our highly sought after and world-renowned eggs, we also create collections of contemporary jewellery across categories such as rings, pendants, necklaces, bracelets, bangles, brooches, and cufflinks. In addition, we also craft award winning watches and exquisite object d’art.
How does Fabergé channel its history through design?
We are contemporary at Fabergé, but our past is incredibly important to us. We are immensely proud of our rich, illustrious history along with the creativity, philosophies, and values of our founder – Peter Carl Fabergé, continuously drawing inspiration from his legacy and applying it in a modern way. Sometimes this is evident through our creations and other times through our values and approach to what we do. The essence of Fabergé is creativity and imagination, and we strive to have fun, approaching our mission with a sense of wonder and adventure. We base our work on the pursuit of perfection.
Does Fabergé have any royal associations?
Yes, both historically and today. The series of Easter Eggs that Fabergé made for the Russian Imperial family are regarded as the last great series of commissions of objects d’art. The story began when Emperor Alexander III decided to give his wife the Empress Maria Feodorovna an Easter Egg in 1885, possibly to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their betrothal. Many royal families across the world have Fabergé in their private collections and today we continue to count royalty as our clients. Most recently, we were delighted to create bespoke wedding rings for Rebecca Bettarini and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov for their nuptials in St Petersburg. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II owns 3 Fabergé Imperial eggs, and the Crown Prince of Monaco is also the proud owner of a Fabergé egg.
Can you detail the craftsmanship that goes into creating your Heritage Egg Pendants?
A staggering amount of work goes into each one of these creations and a range of highly skilled crafts are employed - from guilloché, enamelling, hand-engraving, gemstone setting and polishing. The process involves molten gold being poured into unique silicone moulds, before being delicately filed and buffed. Next, the mesmerising guilloché pattern unfurls by ‘engine turning’, a technique dating back to the 18th century and has remained an integral part of our creations since the company began.
Peter Carl Fabergé was considered a genius of this ancient technique, inventing over 145 new colours and establishing himself as a true pioneer in the field – a legacy we’re proud to continue today. Enamelling is a seemingly magical process by which powdered coloured glass is bonded to a surface via heat of 900 degrees centigrade – it’s a delicate science, a few seconds too long in the kiln and the piece will need to be re-started from scratch. This highly complex and delicate technique requires great skill and many years of experience.
Our craftspeople meticulously hand-paint the unique turquoise powder onto the egg, when heated, the powder melts, flows and hardens into a lustrous, shiny surface. It can take up to five layers and firings in the kiln to create the desired effect, it can take as long as two days to produce a single item. Perfection takes time. 16 sparkling diamonds are then delicately set into the 18k gold piece before it is assembled and polished. The final stop is quality control – after being inspected under the microscope to ensure there are no imperfections, it is carefully packaged and shipped to our London headquarters for the final check before it makes its way to the client. Each pendant beautifully captures the spirit of Peter Carl Fabergé and creates a legacy for future generations.
Explore Fabergé at Laings
Thank you for taking the time to read our interview with Fabergé’s Managing Director Antony Lindsay. Follow our latest news on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.