Fabergé

The House of Fabergé (French pronunciation: ​[fabɛʁʒe]) (Russian: Дом Фаберже) is a jewellery firm founded in 1842 in St. Petersburg, Imperial Russia, by Gustav Faberge, using the accented name "Fabergé"; Gustav was followed by his son Peter Carl Fabergé, until the firm was nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1918. The firm has been famous for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs for the Russian Tsars and a range of other work of high quality and intricate details. In 1924, Peter Carl's son Alexander with his half-brother Eugène opened Fabergé et Cie in Paris, making similar jewellery items, but adding the city to their rival firm's trademark as "FABERGÉ, PARIS". In 1937, the brand name "Fabergé" was sold and then re-sold in 1964 to cosmetics company Rayette Inc., which changed its name to Rayette-Fabergé Inc. As the name was resold more times, Fabergé companies (such as Fabergé Inc.) launched clothing lines, the cologne Brut (which became the best-selling cologne at the time), the perfume Babe, hair products, and undertook film production.

The Fabergé family can be traced back to 17th century France, then under the name Favri. The Favris lived at the village of La Bouteille in the Picardy region of northern France. However, they fled the country during or shortly after 1685 because of religious persecution. An estimated fellow 250,000 Huguenots, as the movement of French Protestants was known, also became fugitives.

During the family's progress eastward through Europe its name changed progressively from Favri through Favry, Fabri, Fabrier and then to Faberge without an accent. At Schwedt-on-Oder northeast of Berlin, in the second half of the 18th century, a Jean Favri (subsequently Favry) is known to have been employed as a tobacco planter. By 1800 an artisan called Pierre Favry (later Peter Fabrier), had settled in Pärnu in the Baltic province of Livonia (now Estonia). A Gustav Fabrier was born there in 1814. By 1825, the family's name had evolved to "Faberge".

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