Faberge
Born in St Petersburg in 1846, Peter Carl Faberge (known as Carl) was the eldest son of Gustav Faberge who had established his own jewelry shop on the main street of Bolshaya Morskaya in 1842. He set up his shop after apprenticing with Keibel, goldsmiths and jewelers to the Emperors of Russia. Carl grew up in Bolshaya Morskaya and moved to Germany to study at the Dresden Arts and Crafts School. In 1864 aged 18 he went on an educational tour of Europe before returning to St Petersburg in 1870 to help run his father’s firm. In the wake of his father’s retirement, it was being managed by a trusted team headed by the workmaster Peter Hiskias Pendin. Carl trained under Pendin who became both his tutor and mentor. He married Augusta Jacobs in 1872 with whom he would go on to have four sons and in 1882 his brother Agathon joined him in the business just as he assumed sole control of the company following the death of Pendin. Fabergé came to the attention of the Royal family when Tsar Alexander III saw the firms display at the Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow. He commissioned Faberge to create an Easter Egg for his wife Maria Feodorovna which he presented to her in 1885, much to her delight. The Hen Egg would be the first of 50 Imperial Eggs that Fabergé would create for the Romanovs. They were granted the Royal Warrant soon after and given the title ‘goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown’. In 1887 the firm opened a branch in Moscow which was managed by three brothers, Allan, Arthur and Charles Bowe. The business was expanding significantly, and as the company’s reputation spread as they received awards and Royal Warrants of Sweden and Norway in 1897. In St Petersburg they realized they needed a new location to host the craftsmen and employees that now worked for Fabergé. Number 24 was identified, purchased and totally refurbished to house not only the show room, design studios and workshops but also the Fabergé family apartment. They moved in 1900 by which time Carl had around 500 people in his employ and was running the country’s largest jewelry company. In 1900 they exhibited at Exposition Universelle in Paris with overwhelming success. Their display included the Royal Family’s Imperial Eggs as well as jewelry. In 1903 Arthur Bowe was sent from Moscow to London to establish a business base for Fabergé. There they operated out of the Berners Hotel before moving to Grosvenor Square the following year. By 1906 the firm had opened another branch in Russia in Kiev and the London branch was moved to 48 Dover Street which was being run by Carl’s son Nicholas alongside Henry Charles Bainbridge. In 1908 Carl went to London on his way to Paris which three years later moved to 173 New Bond Street. In 1914 World War Two broke out and severely effected business. The Bond Street shop was closed in 1915 because of a Russian repatriation effort from the war. Trading continued discreetly for another couple of years until 1917 when the stock that remained was sold to Lacloche Frères. In St Petersburg the Revolution of 1917 saw the House of Fabergé taken over before it was closed down and all inventory was confiscated in October 1918. Carl escaped the country and fled to Germany. A month later by his eldest son and wife followed suit. Nicholas was safe in London but Carl’s middle two sons were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. They both escaped in time and Carl moved to Switzerland in 1920. He passed away three months after arriving.
