Russian Gem Factory

Categories / Economy/Industry
Categories / Art/Fine Arts/Art and Craft Production
RUSSIAN GEM FACTORY (8 C. Faberge Square) is a jewelry factory. It produces custom-made and ordinary jewelry, bijouterie, cut stones, enamel miniatures, enamel-filigree silverware, and other products. The factory has a chain of company shops in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The company dates back to the trust of the same name founded in 1922. Its name and the charter were borrowed from the Society for Assistance in Development and Improvement of the Handicraft Lapidary and Grinding Business. The Russian Gem Factory was founded in 1912. Its first director was G. D. Bazilevich, and its scientific adviser was Academician А. Е. Fersman. The majority of craftsmen of Russian Gem Factory were former workers of leading jewelry companies of St. Petersburg. Initially Peterhof Lapidary Factory (see Petrodvorets Watch-Making Factory) was the Factory’s main industrial unit. The Jewelry Factory was created in 1932 (32 Borovaya Street, 32; the building has not been preserved) and the Central Gem Research Laboratory was opened (from 1966, it has been referred to as the Research Institute of Jewelry Industry). Its employee L. A. Popugaeva in 1954 discovered a field of diamonds in Yakutsk. In the 1920-50s, the trust was a monopolistic producer of semi-precious and ornamental stone products, with affiliated enterprises throughout the country. The most significant orders placed with the Factory were the ruby stars for the Moscow Kremlin and the map of the USSR (with the total area of 26.5 square metres) made of gems in the technique of Florentine mosaic for the World Fair of 1937 in Paris. The exhibit was awarded the Grand Prix. The trust was reorganised in 1957; the name Russian Gem remained after the jewelry factory in Borovaya Street. The Leningrad Industrial Association of Russian Gems was founded in 1970 (rearranged as a joint-stock company in 1993). A building on Zanevsky Avenue was erected for the Association. The anthology of works of the Research Institute of Jewelry Industry has been published since 1968 (the Institute was included in the Association in 1971). The monument to K. G. Faberge was installed on the square before the building of Russian Gem Factory in 1996 (see Faberge Company) In 1998, the square was named after him.

References: Фаберже Т. Ф., Горыня А. С., Скурлов В. В. Фаберже и петербургские ювелиры: Сб. мемуаров, ст., арх. док. по истории рус. ювелир. искусства. СПб., 1997.

V. V. Skurlov. Bazilevich G.D.
Faberge Сarl Gustavovich
Fersman Alexander Evgenievich
Popugaeva L.A.
Borovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 32
Karl Fberge Square/Saint Petersburg, city, house 8
Фаберже Т. Ф., Горыня А. С., Скурлов В. В. Фаберже и петербургские ювелиры: Сб. мемуаров, ст., арх. документов по истории рус. ювелир. искусства. СПб., 1997