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First object · 01

WordsParole

A bilingual board book of first words, in English and Italian.

Price£13 Ages0 + beyond ShipsUK & Italy, June Format180 × 180 mm
Pre-order · £13 Two copies · £25
The Words • Parole board book, 180 by 180 mm, seen from the front

A drawing that is habitable.Fred Sandback

Open spread from the bilingual board book Words • Parole: sofa divano, armchair poltrona, lamp lampada, window finestra
Fig. 01
Home · Casa, pages 14–15. Watercolour on 305 gsm FSC board, matt lamination, rounded corners. Eight words to a spread, never more.
01

Forty-eight words

Six categories: body, home, animals, food, nature, transport. Each word paired with an original watercolour.

02

Two languages, equal weight

Neither is a subject to be studied. Both simply sit on the page, the same size, the same care.

03

No screens, no noise

FSC-certified board, matt lamination, rounded corners. Nothing flashes, nothing beeps, nothing is plastic.

Six categories

Watercolour illustration of a hand, labelled hand and mano
handmano
Watercolour illustration of a lamp, labelled lamp and lampada
lamplampada
Watercolour illustration of a cat, labelled cat and gatto
catgatto
Watercolour illustration of an apple, labelled apple and mela
applemela
Watercolour illustration of a star, labelled star and stella
starstella
Watercolour illustration of a bus, labelled bus and autobus
busautobus
A laughing toddler lying on a rug, holding the Words • Parole board book
Fig. 02
Carried around at twenty months. The thick board survives being chewed, dropped and loved.

The architect hasn't had to invent anything except what already existed.Alberto Ponis

We live in London. At home, we speak Italian. Our son understands everything, and is simply quiet about it, the way children are when they take in more than they show.

So I started looking. Not for a toy: for something I would actually want in our home. What I found was plastic that flashes and beeps, cheap devices built to stimulate rather than teach, and crowded pages. Nothing bilingual. Nothing that treated the object as enough.

This book invents nothing. It names what is already in the room: a chair, a lamp, a door. Forty-eight things a child can touch, in the two languages spoken over their head.

How it is made

01

Painted

Forty-eight original watercolours, realistic rather than cartoonish, painted one at a time in London.

02

Printed

FSC-certified board at 305 gsm, matt anti-scratch lamination, flush cut with two rounded corners.

03

Sent

Packed by hand and posted from London. United Kingdom and Italy, five to eight working days.

The open dictionary

Read the words before you buy

Each word with its pair. Tap a category, tap a word to hear the Italian.

Pre-order the first edition

Shipping June. United Kingdom and Italy, postage included.

One copy · £13 Two copies · £25

Shipping

United Kingdom and Italy, postage included. Five to eight working days from dispatch. Elsewhere, write to us and we will arrange it.

Returns

Fourteen days to change your mind, as UK law provides. Unopened and undamaged, we refund in full.

Safety

Rounded corners, thick board, non-toxic inks. Tested to EN 71-3 on the production batch.

One letter, when the next object is ready

No more than four a year. The making of the book, and what comes after it.