Bolting Ahead
The Age
Sunday July 10, 1994
One decorator's dream has become an exciting reality in a revolutionary new fabric boutique.
INCURABLY visual people such as Robin Valkenburg Bourke generally become involved in aesthetics. Robin became a decorator and for four years was the chief decorator at Georges.
Now, at 48, Robin is doing something she has imagined doing since she was 20: ``I'm indulging my passion for fabric," she says. ``At long last I've finally succeeded in getting my life's desire together."
With the opening of Cambric Textiles and Interior Design, in Kooyong, Robin's flair for color and her yearning to be surrounded by the most beautiful fabrics in the world is being focused in something brave, new and daring.
Cambric is a fabric shop, but not a normal fabric shop. Robin noticed Spotlight and Lincraft moving to furnishing fabrics, ``fantastic, lovely stuff, but there was still a middle to the upper end of the market to be filled - the type of fabric you have only seen in exquisite windows in those often very precious interior decorating shops".
At Cambric, the fabrics are just as exquisite but the difference is, you can walk in and buy as little as a metre.
Those with an eye know that if you want to make a room vibrant and individual, but don't have the time or the money, beautiful fabric is the answer. A special cushion or a throw over a chair or table can transform a room.
Her prices are not prohibitive - they range from $30 a metre to around $300. For $300 you could have a metre of the most sensational fabric imaginable ... not expensive when you consider the design, the craft and the expertise that has gone into it: $300 is nothing for a work of art.
James Marks, the managing director of the fabric suppliers Wardlaw Australia, believes Robin has had an inspiration with Cambric.
``It's an entirely new concept, not trying to sell decorating as the whole production, which is the traditional thing.
``She's offering people a chance to look at some exquisite fabrics, and she believes that the public is already educated to know what it wants, so instead of having to wade through thousands of sample books, she has already pre-selected. She's prepared to look at the business laterally, from a new slant, and deserves every encouragement."
Robin and her husband have laid themselves on the line with this new venture, but, given the style, taste and passion of Robin and the desire of the public to be able to look, touch and buy without feeling intimidated, Cambric fabric boutique should soon be one of the hottest places in town for those with a speck of decorating sense.
Cambric, 485 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong, is open Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 6pm. Tel: 8043804.
© 1994 The Age