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Abbatt, Paul [1899-1971. UK. Toy Designer]
Abbatt, Paul [1899-1971. UK. Toy Designer]
Cyril Paul Abbatt [commonly known as Paul Abbatt] was born in Bromley Cross, near Bolton, Lancashire, England in 1899 and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. He then taught at Sidcot School, an independent school in Winscombe, North Somerset. In 1930 he married Marjorie Cobb (1899-1991). 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 June 1971, Marjorie Abbatt sold the business to the Educational Supply Association. She died in Summerton, Oxford on 10 November 1991
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