Faberge: Excellence Beyond Time

The exhibition brings together more than 400 jewelery items of the famous House of Fabergé. They arrived from the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden, the State Hermitage, Peterhof State Museum-Reserve and the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art. The exposition takes the visitors through the history of Faberge: from the foundation of the world-famous House to its decline.
We recreated the ambiance of the jewelery house, inviting the visitors both in exquisite St. Petersburg and bustling merchant Moscow. Velvet, brass and glass are the key materials we used. The main chosen colors are ashy-pink (the color of St. Petersburg skies), as well as golden and pearly grey — the signature colors of Faberge.
We start from the Faberge workshop; here we tell the jewelers’ stories through photographs, their work tools and reviving sketches. The space itself surrounds a huge showcase table; it replicates the shape of a blot — such shape allowed several jewelers to work simultaneously. The workshop leads to the diamond gallery: here every jewel soars in a small mirror box.
The walls of St. Petersburg hall are upholstered with burgundy velvet. Moscow hall, by contrast, is ashy-pink, which emphasizes the silver items on display. The «royal» hall is the space where famous jewel-encrusted Faberge eggs are exhibited; they are trapped in golden birdcages, while the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II is projected in the backdrop. The exposition ends with the war. No more diamonds and splendor; they got replaced with ammunition, kettles and medical tools. This is how theHouse of Faberge lived under martial law.