2025 Emerging Designer Award: AubreyMaxwell
Author:Anh-Minh LeAfter making a strong impression at the 2023 San Francisco Decorator Showcase, the following year AubreyMaxwell further solidified its status as a firm on the rise. Indeed, Robert Aubrey McMillan and Marcus Maxwell Keller—partners professionally and personally—wowed with their carefully crafted vision in 2024 as well.
Photography by GEORGE BARBERIS, JOHN MERKL, TODD HIDO.
McMillan is a design industry vet, having previously worked at McGuire, while Keller has a background in business development. In 2013, as they welcomed a daughter and pondered their work-life balance, they launched AubreyMaxwell. The founders’ shared passion for art is reflected in every project, from the inclusion of emerging and established artists to custom furnishings created in collaboration with independent makers.
The firm’s Showcase rooms, while aesthetically distinct, brimmed with artful details. In 2023, their powder room and antechamber featured statement pieces like a floor-to-ceiling carved wood mirror designed with Casey Johnson Studio and piece-stitched window panels inspired by the residence’s leaded-glass windows and fabricated by Kelley James Design. “Sometimes you only have a few things in a room, so those few things each need to sing and have power and impact,” McMillan says. Their 2024 bedroom centered on music and memories—complete with a curated record collection and a custom stereo cabinet made of claro walnut by Sebastian Parker Furniture Design. For the walls, ceiling, doors and trim, two shades of green paint combined with an Arte floral wallcovering to soothing effect.
Among AubreyMaxwell’s current San Francisco projects are a mid-century condo in Pacific Heights and a Tudor-style residence near Stern Grove. In Sacramento, a unique venue is in the pipeline: a 6,000-square-foot building that houses a half-court basketball court, a two-lane bowling alley, a golf simulator room, a kitchen and a bar and lounge. Whatever the undertaking, integral to their practice is “getting to know people, understanding more about them and who they are,” Keller says. McMillan elaborates that “interior design is an intimate process. It comes down to connecting with people and transforming the rooms they live in every day.”
