A Matter of Taste

What if your career depended entirely on your taste? Whether it’s their tastebuds or taste in fashion, Laura Peppas uncovers four Canberrans with jobs that revolve around their palates…

Gail Lubbock

Fashion Buyer

In a world where fashion is fickle, it takes a keen eye to navigate the fads from the long-lasting trends.

Enter owner of Manuka boutique Escala Shoes, Gail Lubbock. Gail’s meticulous eye for detail and “insatiable curiosity” has led her to become one of Canberra’s best-known style experts.

Since taking over the boutique in 1998, Gail has sourced shoes and accessories from some of the most indemand designers in Europe, including Aquatalia, Antonio Barbato and Thierry Rabotin; with some labels sold exclusively through the store.

She now travels to Milan every six months for about a week, scouring shoe fairs and trade shows for beautiful, well-designed shoes, boots and accessories to stock.

“I always go and expect something fabulous, and every time, without fail, I find it," Gail says.

“So every six months, designers are having to recreate, reinvent and reconsider, and they always step up to the plate. It’s my job to find something I know our customers will love, but also that is of very high quality and wearable.”

Interestingly, Gail began her career as a nurse, but says she always had a love for fashion. Even as a child, in her home town of Orange, she would often sneak into her mother’s or aunt’s wardrobe to “clomp around in their shoes.”

“My mother was always dressed beautifully, she had a lovely eye for colour so I grew up with all that,” she says.

“I still remember twelve and six pence bought me my first shoes—a pair of Moxoms—from the local store in Orange.”

After moving to Canberra in 1978, Gail decided to give up nursing due to a back injury. She started to work in retail, where, at the time, the buying process was largely dictated by men.

“It worked well for a long time, but as they were mainly men who were responsible for buying, I was always curious and wondered if there was something there that they don’t see,” Gail says.

“A woman’s eye is always different to a man’s eye; they have a different vision. A lot of theirs is concerned with the economics of the whole thing, whereas I’m more concerned about the aesthetics.”

After taking over Escala, Gail gradually built up the business, taking her first buying trip to Europe in 2005. She's returned every six months since.

Her favourite season to visit is winter: “I just love it—the boots, the leathers, the textures, the fabrics.”

When she's not in Europe, Gail spends time in-store or researching new trends; a task that wasn't easy before the online world erupted.

“Back then I’d have to just subscribe to magazines to learn about the industry, along with new designers and a whole raft of information,” she says.

“Now it’s much easier, I keep up with the various websites and keep a fine eye on fashion. I’m an insatiably curious person as well, I love to find out what people are doing, what they’re wearing, and maybe finding new shoe designers.

“It’s a fascinating industry, and it’s always changing so you do have to keep up to date. And the more you know about your industry, the more interesting it becomes.”

As trends are ever-evolving, Gail says she’s now noticing a global casualisation in the fashion industry.

“Flats are very in right now, and the more practical, blocky heel is much more prominent than it was a few years ago,” she says.

“Casualisation often means that it’s comfortable and it’s adapting to fit with a lot of things. This autumn/ winter season I’ve also noticed a lot more colour, plenty of pinks and deep reds—I love that.”

While travelling Gail will often visit the factories that make the products she sources, allowing her to see the intricacies that go into making each piece.

“Visiting factories is wonderful and gives you such an insight into the process,” she says.

“I’ll go into the leather rooms and just love seeing the different things they do with them; the colours, the embellishments, the textures, and watching the intricacy of a woman on a sewing machine doing different embroidery. You get to understand why they are so expensive, due to the hand component.

“It’s also certainly lovely being able to recognise the people making the pieces, knowing they’ll go to a good home with our customers here in Canberra and say ‘thank you very much, we’re really enjoying what you do back on the other side of the earth’.”

Martin and Susie Beaver

Art Gallery Directors

IN AN INDUSTRY that is largely subjective, Martin believes art is all about making a connection.

"Some clients will look at one piece of art and feel nothing, and then they’ll have a real connection with another," he says.

"Kids are actually fantastic with art—they take away something from it that you’d never thought of before, because they’re not inhibited about what they see."

As directors of Deakin art gallery, Beaver Galleries, it’s a vital part of Martin and Susie Beaver’s job to have their finger on the pulse of the art world.

“The worst thing in the world you can do as an artist is to be static, and I do believe that’s true for Susie and I too,” says Martin.

Yet he is also adamant there's a fine line between evolving and becoming a slave to trends: "You don’t want to become a faddist—that's something we try and steer clear of."

Since taking over the gallery in 1992, the husband and wife duo have showed work from hundreds of artists hailing from all around the country, in a variety of mediums including paintings, prints and drawings, sculpture, glass, ceramics and jewellery, and stage about 20 shows a year.

Beaver Galleries was originally established in 1975 by Martin's parents, Ron and Betty Beaver, in the back of a suburban house in the inner south, moving to custom-built premises in Deakin 10 years later. It is now one of the oldest, and largest, commercial art galleries in Australia.

Finding new artists while maintaining relationships with existing artists is an integral part of the job for Martin and Susie, who met at a pub in London.

“It’s more than just hanging a painting on a wall—you really build a relationship with each artist,” Martin says.

"You might find somebody whose work you like, but you’ve also got to like the person and their attitude to the work. Then it becomes a partnership between the artist and the gallery, so a big part of our job is building relationships too. And then hopefully you’re bringing the clients along with you too, changing their tastes and expectations."

He recalls one artist who he tracked down after seeing her paintings in an artist-run space in Hobart, eventually finding her working in a pub in Salamanca. "All that I knew was that she worked in a pub in that area so I worked my way through them all until I found her, and we’ve been showing her since," Martin says.

"The interesting thing about galleries is you’re always treading a fine line between consistency and change. New artists are always emerging and creating new things.

“What I think a lot of people don’t know about commercial galleries is that you tend to work with a stable of artists, a regular group so you’re not just hanging work, you’re actually representing the artist because they’re changing, and their work is developing. We encourage them and enjoy watching them change and develop, they grow with the gallery.

“It's taking artists to art fairs, pushing them to institutional collections—there's a whole lot of things that go into representing artists because you're trying to move their career."

When I ask if selling a piece is a bit like giving away one of his children, Martin instead describes the experience as very satisfying.

"It’s always nice to see one of our pieces go to a good home, because that person has made their own connection with it," he says.

Martin and Susie now split their time between running the gallery and travelling interstate to art fairs and shows. It's very much a labour of love, with the pair running the business full-time, employing two staff, and investing large amounts of money into the business—implementing state-ofthe-art lighting, for example—to keep it running.

"The reality is that you’re always thinking ahead in this job," he says.

"We’re a funny community in the art gallery world, we’re always busy doing things and we don’t get to talk to each other as much as we would like. But it is important to see what others are doing and this helps when you get the chance to sit back and really appreciate what you've done."

Catriona Jackson

Food Critic

Catriona Jackson is the first to admit she’s probably not how most people would expect a food critic to look.

“Particularly when I first started reviewing restaurants, everyone would expect a man—and someone who was perhaps a little overweight,” she laughs.

It works in her favour: reviewing food is one of the few positions where anonymity is key, as every intention is to have the same kind of experience as the person at the next table.

“My view of a restaurant reviewer is that you are there to represent the normal person, and it’s an awful lot easier to represent the normal person if you are treated normally,” Catriona says.

“So I try really hard to make sure people don’t know. It's also better for the staff in a way; you'd have a lot of nervous people."

With so many restaurants popping up left right and centre in Canberra, Catriona has a lot on her plate—literally.

During her career, Catriona worked as regional editor for The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and contributed to cultural magazines such as Vogue Entertaining and Travel, Eureka Street and Overland; her tastebuds often taking her around the country and beyond.

She is now currently reviewing a restaurant every three weeks for The Canberra Times, outside of her busy day job as chief executive at Universities Australia.

But while her skillset is diverse, it’s not hard to sense the deep passion Catriona has for food when we chat.

She says she’s always taken food extremely seriously, even if others didn’t.

“My first job was working for the student newspaper, where I decided to put one of my food reviews on the front page, much to my colleagues’ displeasure,” she says.

“That was 30 years ago, when food television was an oddity, and you could name on one hand any celebrity chefs.”

Times have certainly changed; now food is practically considered an art form, with celebrity chef upon celebrity chef spruiking their latest restaurant venture.

With that comes the good and the bad, says Catriona.

“The celebrity chef thing has become a massive phenomenon, but sometimes it stops becoming about the food and becomes more about ferocious competition,” she says.

“But then you have people like Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson or, someone who I always admired, Julia Child— people who are just really passionate about food and the role it plays in life.”

Looking back at her restaurant ventures, she’s noticed big changes in the way people eat—predominantly, that the restaurant experience has become more relaxed.

“Going to a restaurant used to be a much more formal exercise, with white tablecloths and very formal service," she says.

"We’ve really loosened up about eating, and I think that's a good thing."

She adds that Canberra is lucky in that it hasn't been subjected to any "pretentiousness" that often comes with popular restaurants in bigger cities.

So what comes first when reviewing a restaurant—the atmosphere, service or food?

“Atmosphere is incredibly important in a restaurant, but quality is more important," Catriona says.

"If the food is spectacular and I feel unwelcome, it’s not going to be a pleasant experience.

Food is a pretty intangible thing, it’s hard to describe what really makes somewhere a fabulous place to be in."

"A really exciting restaurant, as far as I’m concerned, is where you can just tell they’re always thinking about food, they’re evolving, they’re looking for new ideas, you go in and there’s something that just makes you go ‘wow.’

“And it’s not necessarily at just the high-end restaurants—sometimes that’s going somewhere fabulously cheap. Or sometimes they aren’t changing, but they’re just continuously making what they make really well, and having serious pride in what they do.”

When I ask if she has any local favourites of her own, Catriona, an inner-north resident, says she is spoilt for choice.

“It really depends; Italian and Sons in Braddon is where I choose to go with my husband for a lovely indulgent evening,” she says.

“If it’s a weeknight or a casual thing, I really enjoy things that are offbeat but still interesting and individual. So we will often find ourselves trotting down to the Polish Club, because they’re a set of really terrific, young and vibrant cooks making interesting, diverse meals for next to nothing.

“Or we’ll pop down to Braddon to find out what’s new that day. If the kids want a treat we’ll go to Frugii, for the best ice cream—in my opinion—outside of Italy."

Of course, one of the more uncomfortable parts of Catriona’s job is giving criticism where it is needed, which is not always met with open arms.

“Very occasionally in Canberra, you get chefs or restaurant owners who are very unhappy with what you’ve written, so it is incredibly important that you take giving restaurant criticism very seriously, because you’re giving criticism that may affect their business," Catriona says.

"For this reason you've got to be absolutely scrupulous that you get every detail right, and that you check and double check yourself.

“Food is a pretty intangible thing, it’s hard to describe what really makes somewhere a fabulous place to be in. But the people who run the restaurant are a fundamental part of that. If they care about the restaurant, love being there, and they’re welcoming people, it’s very difficult not to feel special, like you’re part of something.”

Frederique Raimbaud

Sommelier

The process of wine tasting, according to sommelier Frederique Raimbaud, is akin to a blind date.

“First you look and really study them, and if you like what you see you’ll get a little closer and inhale the scent, and the taste structure of sour, bitter or sweet—then you make your decision,” she laughs.

As Pialligo Estate’s head sommelier Frederique often tastes up to 10 wines from all around the world in a day; so it's fair to say she knows a good drop.

Originally hailing from Lyon in France—long considered the gastronomic capital of the world—Frederique already had a relatively strong introduction to fine food and wine; but she says it was her parents who passed on their love of 'du vin'.

“The French have a different approach to wine compared to Australians; they are a bit more slow when it comes to drinking, they’ll nurse a drink for hours and they’ll drink more during the day before a meal—it's a complete experience," she says.

"My parents were wine lovers, so I was very much familiar with wine from the start. I then travelled around Europe a lot so I learned a lot more about different types of wines, and gained much more of an interest."

Yet it wasn't until she studied a course in hospitality at the Hospitality school Bonneveine in Marseille, that Frederique got serious.

After a "spur of the moment" decision to move to Australia, Frederique spent the next 18 years making a name for herself as a sommelier in some of the country’s top restaurants, including Sydney’s three-hatted restaurant Quay and Tasmania's Josef Chromy, described by food critics as one of the country's best outposts.

Shortly after joining Pialligo Estate, she helped them to take out the much-coveted gong for the ACT’s best wine list from Gourmet Traveller Wine.

“I think sommeliers have really become a necessity in restaurant culture," Frederique says.

"People are much more interested in them when visiting a restaurant, and learning more about the wine itself."

Interest has peaked so much, in fact, that Frederique is now teaching level 1 and level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits courses at Pialligo Estate on a regular basis.

"A lot of people in Canberra have interest in the wine industry and improving their wine education," says Frederique.

"The course has a very eclectic crowd—there are people from all kinds of backgrounds such as firefighters, army recruits and mums and dads.

“As part of the course we test wine from all of Europe, as it's an internationally recognised exam. We'll also do a wine dinner every month with a local winemaker, called Meet the Maker. It's a great way to recognise Canberra's winemakers, and chat about what they do."

Frederique says a typical day at Pialligo Estate will usually begin with wine tastings, while her palate is fresh.

“After breakfast and lunch, or even coffee, your palate will change, so I tend to do my tastings before anything else," she says.

The process of wine tasting is always the same, starting with a visual inspection of the wine under neutral lighting.

“A lot of clues about a wine are buried in its appearance," she says.

"I’m always on the lookout for good colour, opacity and viscosity (wine legs).”

Then comes smell: where Frederique will detect the primary, secondary and tertiary aromas: while the 'taste' step is generally an analysis of texture and the 'length' of the wine, though Frederique doesn't actually swallow the wine.

"I'll swirl the wine, then I always spit," says Frederique.

"The taste of wine is also timebased, there is a beginning, middle (mid-palate) and end (finish)."

She has a limit, though. "I'll usually test a maximum of 10 wines a day— it's a bit like perfume, after that your senses stop working as well."

When she's not tasting, Frederique is busily researching new or interesting wines or buying matching wines for upcoming weddings and the restaurant.

Her personal favourites?

“I love Italian wine, definitely, and a good French champagne,” she says.

“Pinot noir or chardonnay are my favourites. Canberrans are also making some great quality wines too so we are very lucky here. You’ll always find a French wine on the menu at Pialligo though; it’s part of me so I can’t change that.”

W O R D S LAURA PEPPAS

P H O T O G R A P H Y TIM BEAN

Words: Laura Peppas | Photography: Tim Bean