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TEXAS DESIGN WEEK DALLAS EVERYONE SHOULD COLLECT By Rebecca Sherman JOHN PHIFER MARRS' COLLECTED WISDOM "Collect what you love and want to live with for a while rather than what is collectible 'of the moment.'" "Replace two second-rate pieces with one first-rate." "Display your collection in one cabinet or on one wall for the greatest effect." Arrange by shape and size. "Don't let your collection get away from you … Collecting is one thing and hoarding is another." Moving or rearranging a collection periodically gives you a new appreciation for it. Lighting is critical. "Love it and light it, or lose it." "O ne is nice, two is better, and three is a collection," writes John Phifer Marrs in his new book, Interiors for Collectors (Gibbs Smith). Marrs, a longtime Dallas interior designer and antiques dealer, is a collector himself with a roster of clients that have included an ambassador and members of the city's prominent families. Many have interesting collections and want help creating additional display space such as custom pedestals or cabinets, he says. For one client with a collection of dinosaur bones and skulls, Marrs designed an imposing pedestal with intricately carved dinosaur claws. Large, important collections sometimes require an entire room for display. For one client, Marrs designed an attic room with elaborately beamed, cathedral ceilings to showcase his Gothic-inspired 19th-century bronzes. In other cases, expanding the house is the only option. When one high-profile family's Georgian-style home got a little crowded, Marrs added a wing for displaying collections and entertaining. Marrs' interest in collecting started after college, first with small silver cigarette cases, then expanding to silhouettes, Italian marble stone fruit, Parian busts, Chinese mudmen, export porcelain, first- edition books, 20th-century artwork, and quirky things such as ceramic glove molds. When every surface was covered with objects — making it hard to put a drink down on a table — he learned to edit. The book features varied collections and interiors in Marrs' own homes in Dallas and Arkansas, along with gracious New Southern interiors he's created for clients and their collections across the United States, Europe, and Central America. "I think everyone should collect something," he says. John Phifer Marrs will speak and sign books Wednesday, September 22, 1 to 3 pm, at Laura Lee Clark Showroom, as part of Texas Design Week Dallas. TXDW is a ticketed event; tickets and complete schedule, texasdesignweek.com. The boat room was designed for a collection of memorabilia from the Titanic and antique maps. Parian busts and figurines from Marrs' personal collection. John Phifer Marrs MICHAEL HUNTER MICHAEL HUNTER DAN PIASSICK DAN PIASSICK 122