Fabergé

The House of Fabergé (French pronunciation: [fabɛʁʒe]; Russian: Дом Фаберже, romanized: Dom Faberzhe) was a jewellery firm founded in 1842 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, by Gustav Fabergé. Gustav's sons, Peter Carl and Agathon, and grandsons followed him in running the business until the October Revolution in 1917. The firm was renowned for designing elaborate, jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs for Russian emperors, as well as a range of other high-quality, intricate works. In 1924, Peter Carl's sons Alexander and Eugène Fabergé opened a firm called Fabergé & Cie in Paris, France, making similar jewellery items and adding the name of the city to their firm's stamp, styling it FABERGÉ, PARIS. In 1951, rights to the Fabergé brand name for the marketing of perfume were bought by Samuel Rubin. In 1964, Rubin sold his Fabergé Inc. company to cosmetics firm Rayette Inc., which changed its name to Rayette-Fabergé Inc. As the brand was resold more times, companies using the Fabergé name launched clothing lines, the cologne Brut (which became the best-selling cologne at the time), the perfume Babe, hair products, and also undertook film production. The brand changed ownership multiple times, and jewellery was eventually reintroduced. There were also imitation "Fauxbergé" objects and "Fabergé-style" products. Today, the brand is owned by a company called Fabergé Limited and is used solely for jewellery and gemstones.