Francesco Bramucci & Anna Secchia

NIDORAMO

Toy maker

A dreamworld of wooden toys

Anna and Francesco are a self-taught duo creating wooden toys for children
They work quickly: their creative process is like a performance
Their signature piece is the tree-house

Nidoramo is a shared project, a dream world, a love story. It was born from the encounter of two people, Francesco Bramucci and Anna Secchia, and it embodies their personalities. Francesco is a philosophy graduate who fell in love with craftsmanship studying Simone Weil and her theories about manual work. Anna is a creative soul passionate about drawing and illustration. Both are 100% self-taught artisans. When they met in 2012, Francesco had already been experimenting with woodwork for some time. Together they started making wooden toys for children: tree-houses, castles and animals, vehicles, rocking horses and more – wonderful objects that are primarily intended as children's toys, but that adults may be tempted to display as design pieces.

Interview

How are your toys made?: Anna: We usually start from a customer’s request. They ask for something and we create it according to our inspiration. First, we make a sketch on paper, then Francesco immediately begins to cut and frame. I intervene again in the final, finishing stages. We work quickly. The making of our toys is like a performance.
What kind of wood do you use?: Francesco: We use mainly European beech and lime wood, because they are easy to work with and totally non-toxic. We also use walnut and birch plywood. In general, we need strong, compact wood, because our toys are intended to last forever and be handed down.
What do you like the most about craftsmanship?: Francesco: The fact that it is a conscious work at all stages. Even if it is hard, it is never alienating, because I keep doing exactly what I want from the beginning to the end. Moreover, creating toys for children lightens everything up, alleviating our physical fatigue.
What is your signature toy and do you have a future project?: Anna: The tree-house is probably the toy that represents us best. As for the future, we are constantly evolving. We have already collaborated with illustrators but we would love to do it more frequently, creating wooden versions of their children’s books.

Francesco Bramucci & Anna Secchia are rising stars: they began their career in 2019