If you lot've walked around New York Urban center in the weeks leading upwardly to Easter Sunday, you lot may have come up across a two-and-a-half-foot-tall egg. It happened to me the other day. At that place's a big egg with a biscuit and brown shell perched in the small-scale park outside Fast Company's offices in downtown Manhattan, similar a statue defended to a fallen hero or a political figure. In truth, information technology's a temporary art installation: Egg Number 253.

299 more than egg-shaped creations are scattered throughout New York City as a part of the 2nd annual Fabergé Big Egg Chase. (Last year's consequence took identify in London.) In the calendar month leading up to Easter Sunday, Fabergé is hosting a very big hunt of very big eggs, each 1 created by a different famous artist. The painter David Salle is responsible for the sculpture exterior Fast Visitor's offices. Other participating designers, artists, architects, and brands include Tracey Emin, Mark Quinn, Zaha Hadid, Ronnie Wood, Peter Beard, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marchesa, Olivier Theyskens, and Bruce Weber.

Designed by Emma Clegg

Like whatsoever Easter chase, participants try and find as many eggs as they tin. But different a typical backyard Easter romp, the game extends throughout New York City'southward v boroughs, and participants "collect" their finds non in a handbasket, only using Fabergé's Big Egg Hunt app. The person who locates the most eggs has the chance to win "precious gemstone pendants" worth tens of thousands of dollars each, care of Fabergé.

It'due south an impressive feat to coordinate "the world's biggest egg hunt" in a major metropolitan area. But more than impressive is how Fabergé, a more than than 100-year-erstwhile make, is using an assortment of digital components to make a company associated with the Russian tsars feel relevant to Americans in 2014. The Fabergé brand name dates back to the mid-1800s, when Gustav Fabergé, succeeded by his son Carl, founded the jewelry store Firm of Fabergé. In 1918 the shop was nationalized. Since then, the company name has passed through many hands. Pallinghurst Resources LLP, an investment advisory firm based in London, has held the proper noun since 2007. On the company'southward website it describes its current era every bit one in which the business is connecting the visitor proper noun with the Fabergé family unit while remaining relevant. The Big Egg hunt and its various digital components are a part of that effort to stay relevant.

The Fabergé website is as beautiful every bit it is useful, with blithe colorful boxes to guide egg-seekers to relevant information. At the pinnacle of Fabergé's Big Egg Hunt app, with which users tin "check in" in at egg locations they discover, in that location's the Hunt partnership with online art site Paddle8, which is auctioning off the giant eggs for the Elephant Family charity.

"What Large Egg was drawn to with Paddle8 was two main things: One was our online achieve," Osman Khan, Paddle8'south chief operating officer, told Fast Company. "With 200,000 followers or members, we take a global audience, if yous volition, that is really intrigued in, obviously art, but also unique objects." In other words, the Paddle8 audience likes distinctive pieces, such as Farbergé's behemothic i-of-a-kind eggs. (Unique surfboard and shoe auctions have also done well on Paddle8's website.)

Paddle8 also provides Fabergé's Big Hunt with an assortment of behest and marketing tools. For example. Paddle8 has 40,000 people signed upward for its newsletters. Aspiring art collectors can also sign upwardly for Paddle8 alerts regarding their favorite artists.

Information technology'due south early on to telephone call this twelvemonth's Fabergé chase a success: The extravaganza ends this weekend on Easter Sunday. But terminal year the Large Egg Hunt raised raised $ane.v one thousand thousand for the Action for Children and Elephant Family charities. Concluding year's fizz as well upped visitors to Fabergé's London store and its website saw a "huge increment" in visitors, according to Fabergé creative and managing director Katharina Flohr.

This year, the egg hunt has already made headlines in the art earth. Jeff Koons'southward gazing brawl-accented egg has already been bid on all the way upwards to $360,000 from its starting price of $500, breaking Paddle8's previous record for its most expensive item ever sold. Equally of this writing, the Egg Chase online auction has seen $xv one thousand thousand in bidding action, according to Khan.

Designed by Richard Mishaan

That's already a pretty big win for Fabergé, since its commitment to fine art is a central office of its make strategy. "Fabergé was always a great advocate of the arts and fascinated by modern art and the avant-garde," explained Flohr. "Essentially nosotros are just continuing this ethos today by getting involved with contemporary art projects such as the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt." The make has participated in other artistic collaborations, including commissioning British artist Ian Davenport to create an exclusive pattern for the tail of ane of VistaJet's aircrafts.

For Fabergé, this kind of arroyo works because it relates to the company's roots. "Peter Carl Fabergé had an endless creative curiosity that compelled him to draw inspiration from a vast treasure trove of stylistic sources from Renaissance, Rococo, and Empire to the lyricism of French 18th century and even Russian sociology," explained Flohr. "Today, our jewelry and watch collections marry extraordinary contemporary design with references or motifs from our heritage. The alloy of legendary heritage with 21st century design is very distinctive to Fabergé."

And of form the behemothic eggs themselves are all distinctive, hitting, and beautiful. You can find pictures of them all hither.)