“ There was a restorer . That was a few doors down . There was a TV shop . Right on the corner . There was a basket making . That was a basket making shops and guys sat in there making cat baskets all day , and then at the top on the corner was like a wholesale butchers . Actually , this had been a butcher at some stage before because it had all butchers hooks in the ceiling .”
Or maybe that was just for the students .
Denise , it should be said , is a great interviewee in that she likes talking . And she ’ s a terrible interviewee – because she likes talking . “ Do you want to know about the shop ?” OK , let ’ s talk about fabrics . Do you design your own fabrics ? “ We used to do a lot of that years ago , but I like to advise rather than design . I like to tap into people ’ s personal taste , and then help them look good .
“ There are certain things that we don ’ t do much , for instance and I don ’ t have many glitzy books here . They don ’ t sell in Brighton , I think there ’ s an understated look they want , people want things to look really nice , but not in a flashy way .
“ If I was going to say what ’ s the best seller , it would be probably plain and natural weaves . Very natural . So cotton linen blends walls , things like that . But sadly , plain , actually .”
And what ’ s your favourite ?
“ I love William Morris . I really like William Morris . I like prints . I like bold prints . So yeah , I mean , it ’ s you know , it ’ s funny when we were redoing our sofa Adrian said ‘ Why don ’ t we just have plain velvet ’ and I was like ‘ No . No way ’, you know because … we just shouldn ’ t .”
Do you often find yourself talking to customers and they ’ ll pick something out and you think to yourself ‘ Are you sure about that ?’
“ Yes , and I would say that because I really want people to be happy with what we ’ ve done . I ’ d be mortified if we did some work and then people didn ’ t like it , they felt that they ’ ve made a mistake , because it ’ s a lot of money . I mean , I ’ ll say to people , it ’ s not like a dress you bought that you can hide in the wardrobe and pretend you didn ’ t buy it . It ’ s a sofa , it ’ s a bay full of curtains . Once you ’ ve got it , you ’ ve got it .
“ If you came in here , I would look at how you ’ re dressed and it would give me an idea of what to pull out . Some people don ’ t think they ’ ve got any idea , some people don ’ t even think they ’ ve got any taste , but everybody has . I find that quite fascinating .”
Have you noticed over the years , how tastes have changed ? “ People are far more conscious , environmentally conscious . I ’ m being asked for things that are natural , all natural fibres . I ’ ve got some ( fabric ) books that are made from recycled fabrics and things like that . Also I think the air miles of fabrics , people are more conscious of that , where things are made .”
It ’ s time to go . You don ’ t want to take up too much of people ’ s time so a bit of small talk while I pack up …
Good luck with the physio and I hope you get out and about sooner rather than later .
“ It ’ s OK . I ’ m not going to get back into it till the end of the year , and until then I ’ ll do all my water sports .” I thought you were resting up ? “ I ’ ve bought a paddleboard . And I ’ m a sea swimmer and try to do lots of sea swimming .”
Clearly we have different ideas about resting up .
“ Yeah , I bought a dinghy and I ’ ve started sailing , so I ’ m a member of the Brighton Sailing Club as well . And I like to do some surfing if I can kneel OK .”
So there ’ s mountaineering , cycling , surfing , the dinghy …. Anything boxes not ticked ?
“ I ’ ve always been a bit of a thrill seeker . So … I ’ ve never done any diving and then somebody mentioned to me that where I ’ m going on holiday there ’ s a dive school ... “
Adrian Robins Interiors 16 Guildford Rd Brighton BN1 3LU 01273 329240 https :// www . adrianrobins . com /