{{Short description|English fashion designer and ceramicist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Sally Tuffin''' (born 1938 in Essex) <ref>{{cite web | url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/england-and-wales-births-1837-2006?firstname=sally&lastname=tuffin&eventyear=1938&eventyear_offset=0 | title=Search Results for England & Wales Births 1837-2006 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw12068/Sally-Tuffin-Marion-Foale Sally Tuffin; Marion Foale] National Portrait Gallery, 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.</ref> is an English fashion designer and ceramicist who, with Marion Foale, was half of ''Foale and Tuffin'', the groundbreaking fashion label that was part of the "youthquake" movement in 1960s London.

==Early life and education== Tuffin is the daughter of a dressmaker mother and a printer and draughtsman father. She was educated at Friends' School, a progressive Quaker school in Saffron Walden.<ref name=V&A_01>{{cite web|title=Interview with Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/marion-foale-and-sally-tuffin/|website=V&A|accessdate=15 July 2014}}</ref>

Tuffin studied at Walthamstow College of Art, where she became friends with Marion Foale, who was in the year below her.<ref name=V&A_01/> On graduating, they enrolled in 1959 on a fashion design diploma course at the Royal College of Art headed by Janey Ironside.<ref name=V&A_02>{{cite web|title=Marion Foale & Sally Tuffin|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/marion-foale-and-sally-tuffin/|website=V&A|accessdate=15 July 2014}}</ref>

==Fashion designs== thumb|right|150px|Foale & Tuffin dress, 1966 Having both been given sewing machines by their parents for their 21st birthdays<ref name=V&A_01/> and having spent £5 on a steam iron,<ref name=V&A_01/> they founded the ''Foale and Tuffin'' label, for which they created a range of colourful and fun dresses, skirts and tops. These were sold through their own shop in Carnaby Street, and later through department stores. Foale and Tuffin were among the first designers to experiment with creating trousers for women that were "flattering, sexy garments".<ref name=V&A_02/>

Their friend James Wedge helped them become established as designers and retailers. According to Tuffin, to make their clothes, they "worked on the billiards table in Jimmy Wedge's flat".<ref name=V&A_01/> According to Foale, Wedge had his offices in Ganton Street and told them about a place round the corner in Marlborough Court with a low rent. Soon, they needed more space, so Wedge found space for them above him, and when he moved out, they took over 4 Ganton Street in its entirety.<ref name=V&A_01/>

==Ceramicist== Tuffin is now a ceramicist.<ref name=V&A_02/>

In 1986 Moorcroft, a UK art pottery, was rescued by Maureen and Hugh Edwards together with Tuffin and her husband Richard Dennis, a former art dealer. Tuffin became Art Director of the firm and designed ceramics for them from 1987 to 1997. Her numerous designs include: ''Carp'', ''Bramble'', ''Peacock'' and ''Rain Forest''.<ref name=Moorcroft>{{cite web|title=Sally Tuffin Complete List of Designs|url=http://moorcroft.pottery-pieces.com/sally-list|website=Moorcroft Pottery|accessdate=15 July 2014}}</ref><ref name=Independent/> Sally Tuffin and Richard Denis left the firm in 1992, since when Maureen and Hugh Edwards have been the sole owners.<ref name=AM>{{cite web|title=Moorcroft Pottery, its history, artists and superb pottery products|url=http://www.antique-marks.com/moorcroft.html|website=Antique Marks|accessdate=15 July 2014}}</ref><ref name=Independent>{{cite news|last1=Grant|first1=Lucille|title=COLLECTING: Throwing a pot of gold From the depths of bankruptcy to the dizzying heights of success, Moorcroft Pottery has seen it all|work=The Independent|date=13 April 1997}}</ref>

Sally Tuffin and Richard Dennis now run the independent pottery Dennis Chinaworks.<ref name=AM/>

==See also== *Mary Quant

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://ltsbf.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/we-were-going-to-be-different.html We were going to be different... at Blogspot]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuffin, Sally}} Category:Living people Category:1938 births Category:English fashion designers Category:English potters Category:People educated at Friends School Saffron Walden Category:Alumni of Walthamstow College of Art Category:British women potters Category:English women ceramicists Category:English women fashion designers Category:Artists from Essex