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New shop illuminates unique handmade items photo by Drew Fleming �Creativity store� launched by self-styled �Martha Stewart of the Northwest� By John Darling ASHLAND � Lynn Kambury�s new business, called Illuminate, might look at first glance like a blended gift and interior design store, but that�s just her starting point. She�s making a "creativity store," where you can buy the works of Northwest artists and craft people or you can learn to make them yourself in classes offered onsite. With the slogan "Warm the home, soothe the soul," the store opened Sept. 1, a few doors from Western Bank. Company name: Illuminate Products/services: gifts, creative household decorations, classes Location: 253 E. Main St., Ashland Phone: 552-9219 Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily Owner: Lynn Kambury Web site: www.illuminateinc.com It offers an unusual array: duvets, framed art, candles, fabrics, art supplies, Scottish teas, hanging lights, botanical lotions, gift boxes, soaps, chimes, room scents, jewelry, scented soaps, sachets and collage-covered river stones. "If I see anything cool, from anywhere in the world, I get it. The theme is handmade or one-of-a-kind things with a story or meaning behind it, things with a treasure feeling or things that make you want to get creative, but definitely not mass-produced things," she says. This explains the Scottish tea. It�s not a craft or house furnishing, but Kambury was touched by the woman who packages it, Kathy Leigh-Godfrey of Sherwood, who quit a high-powered job to work at home so she could be with her daughter. Kambury�s irrepressible creative impulses help reduce the cost of inventory. "I�m always making something. My skills are in sewing, drawing, photography, interior design, graphic arts, tiling. If it�s laying on the road squished, I can figure out something to do with it." Kambury sews her own fashionable dog beds, scarves, purses, duvets and pillows. Kambury is positioning herself as "the Martha Stewart of the Northwest," she says, and is targeting her store at the growing edge of what she calls "the creativity industry." A declining population of artists � fewer people are taking the time to learn real art anymore, she says � has elevated crafts to quasi-art to fill the vacuum. "Crafts aren�t the old stereotype of needlepoint anymore. They�re becoming more high-scale and coming together with fine arts," she says. Illumination draws much inspiration from France and Italy, where Kambury has traveled extensively, and from Native American themes. She traces a quarter of her ancestry to the Oneida tribe of Wisconsin. She offers classes in many crafts, including beadwork, gift baskets and creative stitchwork. These will be taught by Kambury and other area artists. Illumination is also selling its wares at www.illuminateinc.com. Her goal in a few years is to set up another Illumination store in another artsy, tourist town similar to Ashland. Kambury and her husband, Dennis Kambury, a musician and composer, came to Ashland last fall for their honeymoon and liked it so much they relocated here from Portland. "We just fell in love with Ashland for the better quality of life," she says. "We both came here to go for our dream careers. I feel it�s important to go for something that makes you happy. It also shows the children you should go for what you want in life." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA