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Abbatt, Marjorie (Cobb, Norah Marjorie) [1899-1991. UK. Toy Designer]
Abbatt, Marjorie (Cobb, Norah Marjorie) [1899-1991. UK. Toy Designer]
Marjorie Abbatt was born Norah Marjorie Cobb in Surbiton, south-west London on 18 March 1899 and studied at Somerville College, Oxford from where she graduated in 1923. In 1930 she married Paul Abbatt (1899-1971). Both were interested in the Montessori kindergarten method and in the early 1930s went to Vienna, where they visited Montessori schools and attended classes given by the artist and educationalist Franz Cizek (1865-1946) at the Kunstgewerbeschule. The Abbatts were impressed by the educational toys they saw in Vienna and on their return to England established Abbott Toys in London to manufacture similar toys. They commissioned the Modernist architect Ernö Goldfinger to design their shop in Wimpole Street, London, in 1936. Together with the architect Gerald W. Flower, Goldfinger also designed nursery furniture for the Abbatts. Three photographs of nursery furniture designed by Goldfinger and Flower for Paul & Marjorie Abbatt Ltd. are illustrated in 'Decorative Art' 1938 (p.128). Following the death of Paul Abbatt in 1971, Marjorie Abbatt sold the business to the Educational Supply Association. She died in Summerton, Oxford on 10 November 1991
