Assemblage: The Art of the Room

by Shannon McGrath, Annie Reid

Overview

A breathtaking survey of interior design, architecture, artists, and designers that illustrates how thoughtful styling can make a room.

A house is not just a series of rooms but a curated collection of objects and belongings. From the architects who have built the spaces to the artisans and makers who have crafted the objects, this stunning book features twenty-four inspiring interiors and the people that make them exceptional.

Shannon McGrath, one of Australia's best interiors photographers, delves into her archive to reveal the details and layers that make up a room: from furniture and fittings to lighting choices, color palettes, and art curation. Grand or subtle, traditional or contemporary, each gesture is part of a house's legacy, adding layers of detail that bring it to life.

Featuring text by experienced design writer Annie Reid, Assemblage is a true celebration of the beauty of design and intentional curation, revealing that even the smallest of objects, and the way they are assembled, can make an extraordinary impact.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781760764623
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	02/11/2025
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	12.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Shannon McGrath is an award-winning Australian interior, architectural, and fine art photographer based in Melbourne. She has over twenty-five years' experience and is commissioned by architects and designers all around Australia. Shannon won INDE Best Residential Photographer category in 2023 and is on the committee for the Images Makers Association Australia. Her work has appeared in exhibitions and artistic series, books, and numerous magazine publications, including Belle, Vogue, House & Garden, Houses, Indesign, est, and The Local Project.

Annie Reid is a senior design journalist, writer, and author. She has written for over twenty years on design, architecture, property, and sustainability with bylines in many leading newspapers and magazines around the world.

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2025

“Even small things can make an extraordinary impact” on a space, according to this stylish debut coffee-table book. Photographer McGrath teams up with journalist Reid to interview the artists, craftspeople, and designers behind distinctive decorations in striking Australian homes. For instance, the authors describe how architect Kathryn Robson offset the imposing limestone bricks of the “Stone Soul House” with soft interior details by such designers as Daniel Barbera, who recounts modeling the front door’s custom bronze door pull after rocks he spotted on the beach. Examining how architects pay tribute to a house’s history while updating it for the present, the authors detail how Matt Gibson revamped an 1869 Victorian home by removing a dilapidated chimney, widening the dining room entrance, and using vintage furniture to preserve the period feel. Elsewhere, McGrath and Reid discuss how lighting designer Samantha McKenzie’s fixtures absorb and diffuse sound waves in her modernist home, and how a chair designed by Masayuki Nagare, defined by “its lack of conventional lines and play of light and shadow,” complements lopsided sculptures elsewhere in the room. By taking a magnifying glass to individual decorative elements, McGrath and Reid offer a robust accounting of how discrete pieces work in tandem to create appealing, unified interiors. Unique and insightful, this has much to offer. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly