Vintage devotee specialises in antiques with a feminine touch

Romantique owner Tracy Rutherfurd (left) and Kate Robertson take tea on a French-style day bed. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

It's Tracy Rutherfurd's penchant for collecting which has led her to open a second boutique store that specialises in pretty, feminine giftware and antique pieces.

The vintage devotee opened her first Romantique store in Birkenhead Point two years ago but has now bought her eclectic range of goodies across the bridge to Jervois Rd in Herne Bay.

In the new store, beautiful French chandeliers and an antique gilt mirror are displayed alongside shabby chic restored furniture, as well as jewellery, candles, bags, giftware and objets d'art. Everything is pretty and feminine - even the walls, some of which were painted pink and detailed with lace by Rutherfurd's artist husband Nic Holland.

"It's my buyer-holic tendencies really," Rutherfurd says, explaining the reason for the second store. With buying trips twice a year to overseas cities such as Paris and New York and fortnightly visits to local antique auctions, she jokes she needed the space.

Rutherfurd says she has always collected quirky pieces and as a child coveted her grandmother's collection of antiques and special pieces. "I would just long to have them in my own home."

At 8 years old she even asked her grandmother to leave an antique jewellery box and writing desk to her, which she kindly did.

As a young mother in her 20s, Rutherfurd wore a lot of vintage clothing and took to designing and sewing her own clothes. Interest from people soon led her to open a fashion boutique. She continued to collect bits and pieces from flea markets, a habit that's continued until now, along with her love of vintage clothes. While her husband introduced her to the joys of antique auctions, Rutherfurd says she's yet to become interested in internet auction sites.

"Things I buy have to have a magic. I like to touch them. It's hard to get a sense of magic when you see something on a flat screen," she says. Rutherfurd says she also has to love the items she stocks in her Romantique shops. "Something has to touch me."

Although she's always loved French design and antiques, she's happy to stock reproduction giftware.

"I like to sell affordable pieces because I know what it's like to long for something," she says.

Prices for earrings start at around $20 and there are also beautiful handmade organic soaps and pretty rose-topped pens that make reasonably priced presents.

The resurgence of luxe and prettiness in interior design is a trend Rutherfurd embraces wholeheartedly. "I'm thrilled about it. Maximumism is me. I could never be a minimalist because I've always been a collector and could never make do with just one of something."

The Jervois Rd store is set to get even bigger. The shop will extend upstairs when a huge container-load of treasures arrives in late May.

Then, come summer, Rutherfurd plans on adding a conservatory, courtyard and garden to the back of the store. You can guarantee it will be pretty.

* Romantique is at 96 Jervois Rd, Herne Bay, phone 360 9669.