IB Woman
Issue No. 23 - June/Nuly 2005
versatile
Deb Lavis
by Penelope Herbert
Character in heritage restoration projects we see around the place can be said to start from the ground up.
The floor tiles you see in high profile projects such as Adelaide Arcade, the National Wine Centre, Estcourt House, Auchendarroch House at the Mt Barker Cinema Complex, Wirra Wirra Winery Gourmet Retreat, Miele Showroom, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Parliament House came from the same supplier — a firm now known as Eco Tile Factory, run by the quietly remarkable Deborah Lavis.
In 1972 Deb was the director of Woodville Gardens Preschool, making her mark immediately by hiring its first indigenous teacher's aide.
A big change came in 1977 when she moved to Europe and worked in Iceland in the fishing industry, at Icelandic Freezing Plants Corporation.
Returning to Adelaide in 1983 she set up Sculpture Court Coffee Shop in the Art Gallery of South Australia.
We see a pattern emerging: while running her first business she set up Adelaide's Bed & Breakfast the first boutique-style accommodation of its kind in the city, in Franklin St.
And to cap off the entrepreneurial frenzy, she established The Olde English Tile Factory in 1987, also in Franklin Street to supply heritage floor and wall tiles.
“Olde English Tiles are produced in a factory in France that had been operating since Victorian times and used to supply all over Europe in 1800s,” Deb says.
“Demand here led to the factory resurrecting much of its early production, destroyed during wartime, to meet new renovation demands in Australasia.
“Designs of original Australian floors and verandas were recreated; soon The Olde English Tile Factory became well known as the foremost supplier to heritage projects.”
In 1989 the Factory began supply to a major Adelaide project — Adelaide Arcade's floor restoration — which was being restored to original designs.
Relocating the Factory to the southern side of Grote St in 1992, ...
