Wizardry in Wood

Nicolas, the youngest son of Russian Imperial warrant-holder Carl Fabergé, arrived in London in 1906 to help run the only branch of the House of Fabergé outside Russia, in Dover Street, W1.  After 1917 he remained in London. In 1922 his son Theo was born.

In the 1950s Theo restored a Holtzapffel lathe, and began to design and make objets d'art from wood and ivory.  He received commissions from museums such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  The State Hermitage Museum, San Diego Fine Arts Museum and the St Petersburg City Museum have catalogued his creations.

Theo and his daughter Sarah Fabergé's St Petersburg Collection has fulfilled many commissions, from the White House Egg for the United States President, to the Brotherhood Egg for Boys' Town.  HRH the Duke of Gloucester admired Theo's work at the Art of the Master Turner exhibition.  HRH Princess Alexandra received Theo's Presentation Golden Egg.   The Duke of York came aboard the vessel Shtandart in 1999 when it arrived in the Pool of London bearing the oak from Theo's Shtandart Eggs.  The Duke and Duchess of York commissioned the Hole in One Egg in aid of a children's charity.

In 1978 Theo was awarded the Worshipful Company of Turners' Lady Gertrude Crawford Medal for his Silver Jubilee Ivory Casket, and became Freeman Prizeman of the Company.  On the occasion of his 80th birthday, he was granted the Company's Honorary Liverydom.

Theo Fabergé lives on the south coast of England near his only daughter Sarah and grandson Joshua Fabergé.