Sally and Peter Nencini

Snap Cards by Abbatt Toys

It was my interest in Abbatt* and Galt Toys that led me to the Nencinis last Summer. Sally loves vintage toys and has built up quite a collection from the '60s and '70s.

Wooden traffic jigsaw by Galt

Wooden number set by Abbatt Toys

I'm a huge fan of these toys, so you can expect to see quite a few in my Kickcan & Conkers shop next week.

Routemaster wooden jigsaw by Abbatt Toys, Kickcan & Conkers

Sally is a designer and a maker with a background in fashion. She has always loved textiles, surface pattern, texture and vintage fabrics. Last year she took part in the Dulwich Festival Artists' Open House event (something I love, and wish there were more of in France, like the Artists Open Houses in Brighton) selling her lambswool toys, cushions, baby blankets and "tea" bags made from vintage tea towels.





You will find more information about these beautiful designs/products on her new website and in her etsy and folksy shops.

Play designed by Peter Nencini

Peter Nencini is a freelance illustrator, designer and lecturer (Camberwell College of Arts). He has one of the most interesting blogs I've ever come across (three actually, see links on his site).

Peter is currently working on his Make Do Type project, a large family of modular interchangeable printing blocks.

I love these woodcuts, beautiful objects in their own right.

Following their success at the Midcentury Modern Fair in London last November, Sally and Peter are working towards Kid's Modern, held at Dulwich College, 18th April. I'm hoping to go this year, to meet Julia from Winter's Moon, and see Sally and Peter's new upholstery work.

Rajasthani Armchair : 1940s armchair, re-upholstered and re-covered in canvas. Embroidery inspired by a traditional Rajasthani jacket.

Come to Life Chair: High back wooden armchair, covered in vintage French sack. Embroidered words designed by Peter, from a poem by Sadie Nencini.

Since bringing up a young family, Sally has retrained in upholstery. "Each of her bespoke pieces is a unique response to the vintage chair and its character; the story of its use and its user". "Each chair carries a narrative, out of its source ou use or time and place of making".

The Tyrella Chair's narrative was fed by the couple's Summer in County Down

Peter draws and Sally stitches and re-upholsters.

Calligraphic Dining Room Chairs:
Embroidery designed by Peter Nencini, embroidery and re-upholstering by Sally Nencini

Peter and Sally will work to commission, sourcing furniture around a brief or responding to a family piece in need of reworking. Their latest piece, the Shoe Stool, is amazing.

Their brief was "to source a low chair to sit upon when putting on and taking off shoes; to make a typographic drawing about this action and the sensation of entering and leaving behind the world outside one's door." The text is taken from Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space (full details of the process on Peter's blog, here).

I hope you've enjoyed this bumper, all-encompassing post. It's very difficult to do justice to this couple's work in such a small space, so I strongly advise that you sit down with a cuppa or whatever takes your fancy and browse both their sites. I'm sure you'll find Peter and Sally's work and thoughts very inspiring.

This was my 498th post folks, almost reached the big 500!

* Nice post on Abbatt Toys here in French.