In April this year, Fabergé hatched its new collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer products to commemorate the extraordinary story of HBO®’s award-winning television series Game of Thrones. This surprise collaboration fuses Fabergé’s superior craftsmanship and artistic ingenuity with one of the 21st century’s most popular shows.
Co-designed by Fabergé and Michele Clapton, the Emmy® and BAFTA® winning costume designer from Game of Thrones, this one-off work of art is history in the making and is currently in the process of being crafted by Fabergé Workmasters in the UK, with the egg set to be unveiled to the public in December 2021, in USA.
This short feature film offers viewers the chance to meet the team behind this incredible collaboration. Part one of two videos to be released, this film introduces the Fabergé team made up of Josina von dem Bussche-Kessell, Global Sales Director & Business Development Director; Liisa Tallgren, Designer; and Elena Basaglia, Gemmologist, together with the creative backbone behind the television series, Michele Clapton, Costume Designer at Game of Thrones. The team discuss the inspiration and challenges encountered within this unique partnership, bringing viewers into their world.
You can see the video here: The story behind the making of the Iconic Faberge x Game of Thrones egg
The second part of the film is set to be released later in November and will document the craftsmanship behind the making of the egg.
In the video, Liisa Tallgren and Michele Clapton both discuss how they worked closely together to create an intricate and enchanting design which tells the tale of Daenerys Targaryen’s quest to take her place on the Iron Throne. They discuss how this one-of-a-kind bespoke creation is reminiscent of Daenerys’ dragon eggs, while also intertwining subtle nods to her stand-out costumes, which celebrate the landscape around her and her evolving story arc.
Continuing Fabergé’s long tradition of combining the expected with the unexpected, this piece holds even more tales within, as the egg opens to reveal a beautiful surprise in the form of a crown sat majestically atop a glistening crystal base.
The crown was conceptualised by Michele Clapton and is a miniature version of the crown that she says she would have created for Daenerys should she have held the Iron Throne and will be set with a pear-cut Mozambican ruby responsibly sourced from Gemfields.
Elena Basaglia, Gemmologist for the Gemfields Group, which includes Fabergé, discusses that the life of Gemfields’ rubies can be traced back to their origin at the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique.
Josina von dem Bussche-Kessell highlights that together with Fabergé’s enchanting legacy, the Maison today is able to reference modern day culture to provide a platform for new and unexpected collaborations, and how magic happens when different people come together to work on a common goal. Josina says that her dream is that the piece continues to live on for many decades as Fabergé does.
Historically, Peter Carl Fabergé was a story-teller – he wanted to let peoples’ imaginations run wild and not be restricted. Today the journey of Fabergé continues and with that, so do the tales of the unexpected.