Andrey Ananov: biography, personal life of a jeweler

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Andrey Ananov was born in Leningrad. The most famous Russian jeweler celebrated his 72nd birthday in August. This is a man of many talents, but he found himself in the jewelry business. Now Andrei Georgievich is the general director of the Ananov jewelry house. He was born into a family of professors. If he had graduated from the university, he could have become a good physicist, but Andrei became a director, bears the title of "Honored Art Worker of Russia".

Theater

Andrey Ananov graduated from LGITMIK. He is a director of drama theater and cinema by education. In his youth, he did not shy away from any work, thanks to which he gained invaluable experience as a mechanic and turner at a factory. Was a cabin boy on a sailboat. After graduating from the institute, directorial activity started. Ananov worked at the Drama and Comedy Theater on Liteiny, at the Samara Theater, at the Komissarzhevskaya Academic Drama Theater.

Then I had to travel around the USSR. Andrei Georgievich staged performances in Novgorod, Pskov, Volgograd, Petrozavodsk, Kazan. During his theatrical career, he directed 44 works. One of the bestperformances was "Running" by Bulgakov.

Andrey Ananov. Biography

An important role in the formation of personality was played by the environment in which the jeweler grew up. Andrei Georgievich Ananov had a very intelligent family, his father and mother were professors: his father was a professor at ITMO University, and his mother was a geobotanist professor. My father went through World War II. Maternal grandfather, Nikolai Mezentsev, was a count and a real state councilor. My father's parents were also nobles. And the great-grandfather is a famous doctor, whom Nicholas II himself raised to the nobility.

The jeweler inherited from him an estate a few dozen kilometers from St. Petersburg. Both father and Andrei himself were engaged in the restoration of their family castle. Now it is warm and cozy there, it seems to take you back to the 19th century.

About the estate

Andrey Ananov's country house can rightly be called a family castle. It was built on land that belonged to his great-grandfather, a famous doctor, a hundred years ago.

Unfortunately, this house burned down a long time ago, only one foundation remained from it, which became the basis of the new house and the entire estate. Andrey Ananov restored it with amazing precision. Now the house looks like a real castle, there is a summer terrace on the roof. On the one hand, the estate is surrounded by a birch alley, on the other - a linden alley. There are many bushes on the territory, because the owner does not like English lawns.

This is the same house in which he now works and in which his personal life takes place. Jeweler Andrey Ananov spends a lot of time in his estate, once every 10 days leaving forcity. There is a workshop there, he calls it the main room in the house.

Ananov's family

Andrey Ananov met his first wife at Lenfilm, her name was Valentina. They lived happily and provocatively. The young theater-goer was only 21 years old when he started a family. Andrei Ananov admits that he often did not have enough money, but his youth did not give him the right to be sad. One day, Valentina left a note in which she confessed that she had fallen in love with another. She died of cancer in the 90s.

Ananov's second wife was named Stella.

Andrey met his third wife, Larisa, when he was 42 and she was 21. At that time, he was an ordinary theater director. Moreover, he was married to Stella, lived with his second wife for 13 years. Ananov always had a lot of fans, but he did not give anyone a chance and directly said that he only loves his wife. So it was with Larisa.

The girl at that time worked at a recreation center, where many young generals were spinning. Andrei hoped that Larisa would find a rich husband for herself and everything would be fine with her. But one day he saw in her a self-confident woman and a talented theater-goer. The girl graduated from college and became a director. Ananov helped her in every possible way, worried about the sessions, put his soul into her. At some point, I caught myself thinking that I fell in love with Larisa. The issue with the official wife remained open, but she also resolved it. The woman asked directly if Andrei had a mistress, and he told the truth.

Soon they celebrated a gorgeous wedding with Larisa, but livethere was nowhere. For a week, the newlyweds settled in a motel, and then rented a one-room small apartment.

Recall that the third wife of Andrei Ananov, Larisa, gave him two beautiful daughters: Anastasia and Anna. It was Anna who wanted to entrust his jewelry business.

Ananov's current wife (Elena) also bore him two daughters - Masha and Olya.

The family became the most important product of the master. Jeweler Andrei Ananov recently became a grandfather, his two older daughters, Anya and Nastya, gave him grandchildren.

How did you get into jewelry?

Once a friend of Andrey needed financial help, he came to a friend and noticed a table with interesting tools in the corner of a communal apartment.

Comrade admitted that this workplace belonged to his father, who was a jeweler. He taught his son several tricks, and he sometimes earns money with it. Ananov was interested in this question. He suggested to a friend that he make a silver ring and sell it.

That evening, the future jeweler picked up a needle file for the first time and fell in love with this business forever. A friend taught him several lessons, and Ananov began to master this science. Since then, on directorial tours, he took a suitcase with tools with him. So Andrey got his first clients. By word of mouth, this specialist was advised to friends and acquaintances, and friends of the parents brought antique jewelry, because they trusted him more than the workshops. A novice jeweler learned a lot from rare items.

Classic Autodidact

Ananov had no mentors, he had to learn everything himself. All the masters of jewelry at that time worked quietly in their workshops, the old craftsmen died or left for other countries. The beginning jeweler had to make the tools himself. Fortunately, he had experience working with metal, because in his school years he worked at the factory as a locksmith and turner. And as a child, he repaired kitchen utensils and electrical appliances.

But a jeweler, in addition to golden hands, also needs a delicate taste. It took a little work here. Ananov went to museums, studied from books, looked at magazines and gained creative experience. At first he tried to copy, because imitation is an obligatory stage of development. A good artist becomes one who first learns to copy the master. Only then does his handwriting appear.

For a long time the young man honed his skills, an easy job with a small income gradually developed into more complex jewelry. Ananov Andrei Georgievich wanted to know all the subtleties of this business, he even learned how to cut stones in order to have complete freedom in flights of fantasy.

Work on the verge of crime

Andrey admits that he is a very vain person. His ambitions are to enter the history of Russian jewelry art, as Faberge did in his time. Therefore, Andrey put a brand on many of his products.

But jewelry art died in Russia after 1917. Many masters worked on the sly. Ananov did not hide from anyone, because the law applied to those forwhose jewelry was the main income, and Andrei Georgievich at that time worked in the theater.

But there was one unpleasant incident. Ananov had a client who paid not with money, but with diamonds. Andrei Georgievich, of course, was delighted, because in the jewelry business this is a valuable material. And soon they came to him with a search. He hid the pebbles in a bowl of half-eaten borscht. Such a theater was appropriate, because the question of his freedom was at stake.

Exit from the underground

Ananov was the first in the Soviet Union to receive the first license to work with gold and silver. It was 1988, Andrei Georgievich made small Easter eggs and sold them through his own channels, but there was no assay mark on them. It was a criminal situation. And then Andrei Ananov decided to take a desperate step. He collected a collection of things that he made with his own hands, put them in a suitcase and went to Moscow. There I made an appointment with the Chairman of the Committee on Precious Metals and Stones of Russia.

Waiting in line, I went into the office. Silently he approached, sat down, opened the suitcase and said that if you are a bureaucrat, then you can safely call the police, and if you are a specialist, professional and patriot of your country, then please help. Yevgeny Matveyevich put a magnifying glass in his eye and looked at the creations of the hands of a novice jeweler for a very long time. Then he picked up the phone … and dialed the number of the northwestern assay office, they say, there is a capable young man in his office, you need to help him. He entered into a contract with a company that had permission to work with precious metals. So he got a cover.

Ananov aboutdiamonds

Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Ananov corrects this statement: girls' best friends are guys who give diamonds. Why did he become the "king" of precious stones? The fact is that a diamond is very difficult to process (diamond is the material from which a diamond is made).

It was quite difficult to cut a diamond by hand at a time when there were no computer devices. The stone was glued to a stick and one facet was turned on a diamond washer. Then the diamond was re-pasted and the next facet was made. And so 57 times.

It was almost impossible to manually make the edges even and the same. Therefore, all old diamonds are crooked. But, oddly enough, this is precisely their charm. It's like a human face: if it has absolutely the right proportions, it's dead, boring.

The price of a diamond is most affected by the quality of the material. If a stone up to a carat does not have a special value, then diamonds above a carat are valued for the purity of the material and the quality of the cut. The cleaner, the more expensive.

"Faberge" by Ananov

Once Andrei Georgievich organized an exhibition of his works in St. Petersburg. It was attended by Mrs. Sobchak. The jeweler gave her a small egg-shaped pendant. After some time, the woman put on the jewelry at the reception to the ambassador. There was also a representative of the House of Faberge.

In a conversation, he let slip that none of the Russians began to inherit the Faberge case. Sobchak was not taken aback and showed the donated pendant. He was sent for examination and wasadmire the virtuosity of its creator. The Faberge company was then going through hard times and was interested in maintaining its prestige.

Representatives of the company immediately went with a contract to a talented master. It said that Faberge is a brand, and Ananov is a representative of a new level in products of their class. The company allowed him to stamp "Faberge" on his products. But Andrei Georgievich refused, as he had his own name and wanted his children to continue what they had begun. Then the company changed the name of the hallmark to "Faberge by Ananov", to which he gladly agreed.

Later it turned out that the French used Ananov for their own selfish purposes. In fact, it turned out that Andrei Georgievich had to give them half of his earnings. He terminated the contract with them after 2 years and never put on his products the brand they allowed.

Your own PR man

Still, the director's vein sometimes made its way through Ananov's jewelry talent.

Once he was on a visit to Monte Carlo. Although he did not have a large amount of money, he nevertheless decided to stay in the most prestigious hotel. In the room, the jeweler found champagne and a postcard from the hotel director. Andrey Georgievich took advantage of this opportunity and decided to make a gamble. He gave in return his business card with a small pendant. The result was not long in coming: the jeweler was invited to dinner. It is worth adding that the director of the hotel turned out to be familiar with the Prince of Monaco. NowRainier III has a collection of Ananov's works.

The secret of happiness from Ananov

Andrey Georgievich considers himself an absolutely happy person. He has everything: a name, and money, and a wonderful family. It is worth noting that he achieved this himself.

Most of his life he pored over metal, and wife and children became number two for the jeweler. Andrei Ananov admits that he did not notice how his two older daughters grew up. He left while they were still sleeping, and came back when they were asleep.

But the basic rule of conduct is to do everything possible, but only in the range in which it is allowed. Even if no one finds out about these actions, the person still blushes internally, he is ashamed of himself. Andrei Georgievich could not afford this. An unwritten rule guided him all his life.

Ananov always worked hard, money really came with great difficulty. When on one side of the scales are finances that should ensure the activities of a large company, and on the other - art that you want to do, you have to keep a balance all the time. Otherwise, they would either be beggars or unknown.

Andrey never envied those who easily "cut down" money. Means that come easily, they go easily. Ananov never aspired to very great we alth, but he was not a beggar either, because he worked all his life. He always leaves room for perspective, because without it, existence becomes uninteresting.

Ananov can safely admit that he has nocompetitors. After all, in 1917, the Bolsheviks killed the art of jewelry, and in the West, the same art was killed by money. Almost none of the modern jewelers does anything with their hands. Everything is given to the power of machines. Now jewelry is cast along with stones, which Ananov considers a crime. Firstly, they quickly fall off, and secondly, such products do not have a soul. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, Andrei Georgievich created one of his most masterpiece works.