MY LIFE IN TEN Salvage expert Maria Speake reveals what makes her tick

MY LIFE IN TEN...

THE PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS THAT MAKE RETROUVIUS’ CO-FOUNDER TICK

1. Among my heroes is Agnès Emery, the Belgian architect and designer who opened Emery & Cie in 1993. She’s a modern day William Morris in her attitude towards the handmade.

2. I’m drawn to John Piper’s 1950s fabric designs, often representing buildings. Sanderson’s Stones of Bath is one of them.

3. My design rule is – love the screw and lose the glue. Glue damages materials when you try to get it off; screws facilitate dismantling.

4. Gallery 25 is my favourite shop for finding fabulous Italian 20th-century furniture.

5. A name I’ve noted in reclamation is Rotor Deconstruction in Brussels. It has refreshed the approach to salvage with its holistic outlook.

6. An object special to us is a 1950s Jean Lurçat tapestry, which Adam found on a demolition site a few days after our first son was born.

7. Top of my reading list is The Destruction of the Country House by Strong, Binney and Harris (Thames & Hudson).

8. Rousham in Oxfordshire is the landscaped garden I love most. It’s where William Kent made his mark in the mid-18th century.

9. The Glasgow School of Art, which was damaged by fire, is the building I’d love to have owned. Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the sense of it not existing is tragic.

10. My favourite dish is fishcakes from Fishworks in Marylebone served with a big salad, French beans and homemade tartare sauce.