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Sudi Pigott meets Battersea’s Priscilla Carluccio as she launches her new interiors store, Few and Far, on Brompton Road

Above: Priscilla Carluccio

Admit it, most us have fantasised about opening a shop selling exactly what we like, but few of us have the audacity, let alone the means or the exacting eye, to do so. Priscilla Carluccio admits she is very fortunate to now being able to “indulge herself” in doing her own thing exactly as she wants to with the opening of her emporium Few and Far on Brompton Road. It’s part of an enclave of highly desirable specialist interior destinations and teasingly close to her brother Sir Terence Conran’s The Conran Shop. Carluccio’s buying criteria is straightforward: “My benchmark is simply what I find lovely and would happily give a home to.”

Felicitously, it’s only a brisk stroll from her and husband Antonio Carluccio’s (the mushroom maestro) new home in the Montevetro building close to Battersea Bridge, which she is equally thrilled with. “The whole building is immensely pleasing and functions extraordinarily well.” Carluccio relishes her civilised commute on foot as it takes her past Lots Road – a wonderful piece of industrial architecture which is currently being developed by Terry O’Farrell. She’s not afraid of drastic change when it comes to her own home either, having taken the radical decision of starting from scratch (“all our furniture went to my daughter in Devon”) when they moved from a more conventional semi-detached house in Fulham to the “very spacey” riverside property.

At Few and Far Carluccio hopes shoppers will enjoy a sense of discovery and surprise and the windows, evolving alongside the stock and the whole interior with the seasons, will have definite wow factor.

“I want to have things that people want to touch and want to know more about: where it comes from, who made it, how it’s made and will add an extra layer of interest to their home, wardrobe, even toy cupboard.”

Sourced from all over the world, Few and Far has everything from vintage and contemporary furniture, lighting and tabletop items to clothes, jewellery and delightfully old-fashioned toys chosen with the benefit of being a doting grandmother. It covers all extremes from ultra precious designer tableware to simply quirky, inexpensive and boho chic with the proviso most do serve a practical, as well as decorative, purpose. And to entice children, there’s a “kiosk” selling nostaligic sweets by weight plus chocolate cake from Konditor & Cook on Fridays and the weekends.

Besides plenty of British designers and much from Italy, Morocco and India, Carluccio is working with craftsmen to develop her own contemporary handmade pieces using traditional techniques. Convinced that Romania is gradually replacing rural France as the place to find charming rustic pieces, she remains “particularly taken with the choice of large French aluminium professional cookware” and is looking forward to the arrival of the cult French café furniture by Tolix”.

The shop reflects Carluccio’s spectacularly diverse career too, from training in photography at Guildford School of Art, brocanteur (dealing in top-end flea market antiques) helping her brother create the image and launch a product range for The Conran Shop when it first opened, and providing the visual and marketing nous to Carluccio’s – the café/restaurant chain she and Antonio created.

Laughingly Carluccio confesses that she often pops into the South Kensington Carluccio’s Café round the corner from the shop. Closer to home, her regular is Butcher Bar and Grill on Parkgate Road – perfect for informal lunches on the terraces with the grandchildren after walking in Battersea Park, where Priscilla invariably makes a beeline for the Buddhist temple, which shefinds “truly lovely and spiritually uplifting.”

It seems Antonio is a fan of the Butcher shop and deli too, which offers both British and French cuts of impeccably sourced English meat and all manner of intriguing comestibles, including plenty of local Spanish specialist Brindisa’s charcuterie and cheeses. Another favourite haunt is Vama’s at World’s End for Indian food, especially the wonderful lentil dishes, and for treats Priscilla finds Chez Bruce “delicious and rather jolly.” Though, she admits ruefully she’s still barely had time to explore her new home territory and relishes the prospect of making new discoveries on her doorstep.

Few & Far, 242 Brompton Road, London SW3 2BB; 020 7225 7070