What the critics are saying about our book

As our book, Contemporary Salvage, Designing Homes from a Philosophy of Reuse, finds its way into the world, we’ve been quietly moved by the words of those who have taken the time to write about it.

From the Financial Times, to the design press, reviewers have reflected on the values at the heart of Retrouvius – salvage, reuse and the soulful afterlife of materials. Their responses have sparked conversations we hoped the book might inspire and we’re grateful to see these ideas resonating beyond our studio walls.

In “Speakes volumes” for the Financial Times, Clare Coulson revisits the early days of Retrouvius – what she calls “the art of the skip-dive” – and traces how those beginnings shaped the design philosophy we hold today. She beautifully captures how Retrouvius’s approach to reuse, has become “a compelling way to tell new stories”, revealing the narrative at the heart of our book.

Talking about the new book, she said: “For Maria Speake, salvage isn’t just about materials – it’s about imagination…Each project is stylistically different, but all of them are multi-layered, highly textured, elegant and characterful in their own ways”. 

“Remains to be Seen”, was the title for Hugo Macdonald’s piece in The World of Interiors, in which he beautifully framed our philosophy of reuse “as an ongoing experiment and celebration, without a hint of parsimony”.

About our projects (of which 14 are featured in our book), he said they “go beyond prudent circularity; they are a celebration of beauty, texture, personality and reuse” concluding that “Retrouvius is proof that there can be an alternative way of designing, deconstructing and redesigning”.

Serena Fokschaner in House & Garden highlights the way that Retrouvius makes reclamation “chic and modern” busting the age old myth that working with reclaimed materials creates a solitary look; “what strikes you most is their ingenuity: old cigar moulds inset into a door like an abstract relief. In Retrouvius’s world, resourcefulness – not newness – is all”.

In an interview with Maria, Sara Pierdona for Cabana Magazine, points out “As illustrated in their forthcoming book, Maria and Adam have, over more than three decades, realised ambitious and highly original projects… all drawn to inhabit spaces rich in imagination and layered with history”.

In Countrylife, Arabella Youens pointed out that each project in the book shows how Retrouvius “challenges the blandness of the new by introducing the patina, scars and wrinkles of old materials”.

“Practical Magic” is how Sara Morel from Reclaimed Woman, describes the book in her lovely review in Salvo, which as she also points out, “instills respect for materials, both their past and their future”. 

Concluding in Homes & Gardens: “A quick flick through this book shows how she challenges the blandness of new at every step, each project filled with what she [Maria] describes as patina, scars and winkles of reuse… The reader is left with much admiration for Maria’s creative way of working with these rescued materials”.