From an early age Theo Fabergé had a passion for handcrafting objects to great precision. A fascination with the natural beauties of wood led him to explore the techniques of ornamental turning, the art of deep cut engraving and the sculpturing of woods, ivories, and metals using precision lathes. Having restored a valuable Holtzapffel lathe originating from 1861, he began to design and make elegant objets from rare woods and antique ivory, for pleasure and under commission.

In a relatively short time commissions began to arrive from renowned collectors of Karl Fabergé. Creations were catalogued in such institutions as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Hermitage in St Petersburg. At this point however, Theo was still producing all his own designs personally. In 1984, this was to change when he was persuaded to produce a collection of designs to be sold on the international market. These were not to be private commissions, but limited editions by Theo Fabergé, created by his own craftsmanship and, under his direction, the talents of specialists in precious metals, crystal, enamels, lapidary, precious gems and porcelain.

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