Eggs Par Excellence

I’m pre-empting everything early today.  First the Gaultier exhibition, and now Easter.  I’ll be in Japan during Easter weekend and so really, it won’t be Easter at all – certainly I won’t be chomping into chocolate eggs (truth be told, I’ve never really got the appeal of hacking into chocolate shells anyway).  I have Harrods to thank for their early Easter treat as they have invited Fabergé, famous for the most famous non-edible eggs in the world, to come and take over their famous windows as well as sprinkle a bit of Fabergé magic inside the store.    Who in the UK was entirely immersed in the BBC4 documentary about Carl Fabergé presented by Stephen Smith?  That was perfect Sunday night viewing fodder – so good, I watched it twice just so I could try and memorise all of those Imperial Easter Eggs.  Walk past that famous stretch of Brompton Road and the imagined dreams of Peter Carl Fabergé unfold, as the house enlisted the internationally respective art director and set designer Simon Costin and his team to cut, draw and construct different mise-en-scènes, employing mostly handicrafts to better emphasise the intricate skills of Fabergé’s craftsmen, both past and present.  It’s all dreamscape stuff as pop-up books filled with Fabergé’s royal patrons, floral paper cut-outs, replicas of famed pieces like the Moscow Kremlin Egg, a reconstruction of Fabergé’s studio and one jolly Humpty Dumpty sit proudly in the windows.  With no immediately recognisable brand identity other than the eggs, it’s a magnificent designed display draws a would-be new generation of consumers into the store to immerse themselves into all things Fabergé.

The star window is probably the giant spinning cinescope that invites people inside behind this window on the ground floor to take a selfie Fabergé-style, launched today by Miroslava Duma.  No, they’re not deliberately jumping on the digital bandwagon.  Instead, you sit down at a dressing table and look into a digital mirror to create an animated portrait of yourself, loosely based on the Victorian form of animation – the two-sided spinning disc known as a thaumatrope.  Your picture is taken and a piece of Fabergé jewellery is super-imposed on to and you have yourself a Fabergé Cinescope selfie, that is emailed to you and obviously Instagram vid-friendly.  It’s both a novel and charmingly antiquated way of interpreting the modern day selfie and guarantees to have hordes of people queueing up in this temporary Fabergé digital lounge.

For those that aren’t interested in the declaration of self, further inside Harrods, in the super fine-fine jewellery section, you get to see an original Fabergé egg in the flesh.  Never been exhibited in the UK (and certainly not in a non-museum environment), the 1901 Apple Blossom Egg crafted out of gold, diamonds and vibrant green nephrite, originally made for the Russian industrialist Alexander Kelch, will be at Harrods for all to see until the 21st April.  Miffed about the missing wonders of Harrods’ now-closed animal kingdom?  Go an check out this rare masterpiece instead valued at an astonishing £31 million, displayed alongside other archive Fabergé pieces.

Back by door nine of the store, near the windows, Fabergé has carved out their intent in the world of high jewellery.  Despite the fame of the name and Fabergé’s illustrious past, the house was only relaunched as a jewellery brand in 2009, after decades of sprawling licensing deals (Fabergé hair spray anyone?).  They made a spectacular start in 2009 when the house reunited with members of the Fabergé family – great-granddaughters of Carl, Tatiana and Sarah Fabergé – and enlisted Parisian jeweller Frédéric Zaavy to create 80 unique pieces, devoid of eggs or even anything remotely Russian.  Sadly Zaavy passed away in 2011.  Creative director of Fabergé Katharina Flohr has since steered the direction of this jewellery house, re-introducing the egg in a myriad ways, such as the recreation of their famous egg pendants.  They’re housed in a dedicated “Egg Bar” for those with a spare £500 upwards to engrave their chosen bijoux eggies.  A limited edition Spiral Tassel pendant is also a Harrods exclusive.

Pieces from Zaavy’s original collection, inspired by natural organic forms, are on display here and available for sale as one-off pieces.  These diamond encrusted flora and fauna are wonderful to ogle at, or in my case, I cheekily tried on one of the rings, dubbed the “Emotion” ring, which has become part of Fabergé’s core collection.  I now know what it’s like to have £25,000 or a mortgage deposite on a single finger.  As I’ve often said, I’m no fine/high jewellery connoisseur and I scoff at the notion that diamonds could be a girl’s best friends but that multi-coloured formation of rubies, emeralds and rainbow sapphires did have me mesmerised for a a moment there.  Only a moment though.