Style File: Maria Speake of Retrouvius
The couple behind Retrouvius who met while studying architecture in Glasgow, have set the pace in a decade where the nature of what we consider to be luxury design has changed radically - purchases are now being made more conscientiously, an appreciation of craftsmanship has been brought to the fore.
Their showroom in west London is stuffed with the reclaimed relics of Britain's grand Victorian institutional past; a living testimony to their manifesto that 'at the heart of Retrouvius is the belief that good materials and well-made things are precious; whether quarried stone or a piece of expert joinery. These objects were hard won and have an intrinsic value that argues for them to be re-conditioned and cleverly re-used.'
From rescuing 2,000-square-metres of beautiful Hopton Wood fossil limestone from Heathrow Terminal 2, to buying up the Victorian mahogany cupboards that were once storage for the Victoria and Albert Museum's textile collection, it is an ecologically mindful ethos without sanctimony, and their look - deftly mixing robust industrial Victorian, mid-century Italian and Scandinavian, and delicate modern lighting and vintage textiles - has trickled down through the food chain, spawning a thousand copycats.
Having unanimously decided to award House & Garden's Interior Designer of the Year title in 2019, we are delighted to continue celebrating Retrouvius' work, from the intelligent rooms to dedication to refined craftsmanship.
Discover Maria Speake of Retrouvius' style file
Martin Morrell1/28With its stone mullioned windows and roof peaked with gables, there is something of the fantastical about this Dartmoor house. And now the fairy-tale façade is echoed by its interiors, brilliantly conjured into life by architectural salvage experts Maria and Adam of Retrouvius. In the front hall, a jute ‘Big Bouclé’ rug from Alternative Flooring softens the granite flagstones, and green jute matting from Tim Page Carpets on the stairs picks up on curtains in hand-dyed velvet from Kirsten Hecktermann.
Martin Morrell2/28The stainless-steel island contrasts with the existing terracotta brick floor and oak cabinets.
Andrew Montgomery4/28In the Plain English kitchen of the London home of Henrietta Courtauld of The Land Gardeners remodelled by Retrouvius, with its cream Aga, was installed 12 years ago. Maria had it repainted in an Emery & Cie green to refresh the room.
Michael Sinclair7/28Having previously been divided into flats, this 19th-century house in Hampstead has had a sense of harmony restored by Maria Speake of Retrouvius, with creative use of reclaimed materials and eclectic vintage pieces. In the kitchen, vintage Dutch chairs and Scandinavian stools from Paere Dansk were re-covered in colourful corduroy. The ‘Join’ coffee table is by Fritz Hansen. Retrouvius sourced the vintage glass pendants above the island.
Michael Sinclair8/28A ‘Hue’ rug from The Rug Company picks up on the pattern of the framed heirloom quilt on the wall. The orange velvet sofa and chair from Caravane contrast with walls in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Thames Mud’. The ceiling light is an Italian Fifties design.
Rachel Whiting10/28Maria Speake has transformed this London house into a practical family home full of style and soul, using a cornucopia of reclaimed materials in characteristically imaginative ways. The kitchen splashback is made of marble from an old shop fitting and eighteenth-century, carved-stone roundels found in a stonemason's yard.
Rachel Whiting11/28The first floor houses the main bedroom, Forties-inspired bathroom and dressing room.
Jake Curtis13/28In this experimental kitchen designed by Maria made entirely of reclaimed wood, the worktops are made from reclaimed science lab tables, and the fronts of the cupboards are covered in a white laminate, which gives a different energy to the space. On the kitchen wall we used green tiles from Emery & Cie.'
Romain Ricard14/28In the kitchen of this glamorous London house restored by Maria, Farrow & Ball’s soft green ‘Mizzle’ paint provides a backdrop for wall units fronted with mirrors salvaged from the entrance hall of Unilever House on London’s Embankment. An array of ‘Café Glass Globe Pendant’ lights from Lampsy hangs above a central island created from two mahogany museum cabinets.
Romain Ricard15/28In the dining area, a vintage hand-painted Coptic wall hanging is displayed above an iroko table by Retrouvius. Ernest Race ‘BA3’ aluminium chairs are covered in vintage fabrics and Neisha Crosland’s ‘Hedgehog’ linen.
Romain Ricard16/28In the main bedroom, cushions on a bedcover from Antiques by Design echo the colours of a headboard, upholstered in a mix of fabrics including hand-dyed velvet by Kirsten Hecktermann. An antique chandelier from Schmid McDonagh picks up on vintage Italian bedside tables with ‘Trafalgar’ lamps by Pooky. The carpet by Jacaranda balances Farrow & Ball’s rich ‘Green Smoke’ paint on the walls.
17/28Fashion designer Bella Freud partnered with Retrouvius co-founder Maria Speake on a 1970s-inspired penthouse apartment in west London's former BBC building. Here, the dining room is a fabulous combination of mid-century modern aesthetics.
18/28The penthouse's kitchen is light-filled and pared back, its all-white countertops and tiling bolstered by the deep, stained oak island at its centre.
Rachel Whiting20/28Responding to the challenge of turning a 'corporate-looking' flat in the Barbican into a welcoming home for her clients, reclaimed materials and a muted colour scheme work beautifully together, creating a warm interior compatible with the Brutalist Seventies architecture.
Rachel Whiting21/28This project required a different approach to Maria's usual one, which normally begins with addressing spatial and structural elements. Here it was about the furniture. The owners wanted to get rid of everything bar a few pieces of art, something Maria, the queen of reuse, is loath to do. She persuaded them to keep a B&B Italia chaise, which she re-covered, but the rest was cleared out and Maria brought in a mix of unrestored 'raw' pieces to play around with, to create different groups of seating and see what would work. She also took them shopping to various places, including Larusi, to look at vintage rugs and textiles. 'I knew I didn't want to present a fixed idea,' she explains. 'I wanted to show them things and see what they responded to, to suss out their gut instinct.'
Rachel Whiting22/28The owners felt the resin floor they had laid a few years earlier was partly to blame for the coldness. A parquet floor was mooted but Maria persuaded them that the floor should remain and warmth and texture could be added by different means. Instead, in her typically playful way, Maria clad walls and sliding doors with parquet.
Paul Massey23/28Maria Speake of Retrouvius has restored the spirit of an unattractively extended Georgian farmhouse in the Chilterns by introducing modern and reclaimed industrial elements. A vintage leather gym bench is used as a coffee table in front of the sitting room's Royal Doulton ceramic-tiled chimneypiece.
Paul Massey24/28The living room is split an area for kids and one for adults. At the adults' end of the room, the curtain trim and the ceramic Emery & Cie side table are in peacock blue.
Paul Massey25/28Curiousa and Curiousa pendants hang above the Alvar Aalto dining table in the farmouse.
26/28The colour scheme for the restaurant of The George in Rye in Sussex sprang from the palette of the William Morris fabric used on the bench in the foreground of this image. Mid-century Danish rosewood tables and chairs have been covered in turquoise leather.
27/28Floor from an old army gym and Iroko from school science lab work benches make up the bar.
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