Bohemian Rhapsody
October 20, 2014
Text by Maria LaPiana
Design-led and inspired by timeless historical models, Juliska has made its mark on the tableware market-âand itâs just getting started.
Juliskaâs tagline is âPossibly the most beautiful tableware in the world.â Itâs succinctâand spot on.
âWe came up with it right out of the gate,â says Capucine De Wulf Gooding, who founded the company with her husband, David Gooding, in 2001. Sheâs reminded of something a friend once said: âDavidâs so English. If he were American heâd say, âItâs the best tableware in the world.â Period. But being from England, he wouldnât want to assume anything.â She laughs.
The âalmost factual historyâ on the companyâs website will make you smile. Juliskaâs waresâfrom glass and dinnerware to linens and lightingâwill make you swoon. Selling through 600 premium retailers around the country (including Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdaleâs, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman) and beyond, the company is fast becoming a leader in tableware design in the U.S.
It all started when, while traveling in Europe, the couple fell in love with Bohemian glass. They started collecting the handworked pieces (produced by a melding of glass-blowing techniques from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries) and were soon inspired to manufacture authentic reproductions. They sold them under the name Juliska (a Hungarian diminutive of Julia) as a way of honoring the heritage of the glass.
The company is best described as âdesign-led,â with an aesthetic that resonates with so many, according to Capucine, for two reasons: history and philosophy. âOur collections are based on patterns that have stood the test of time,â she says. âAll of them are different. We go from pewter stemware to bamboo to Country Estate dinnerware inspired by toile. They donât even look like they come from the same company.â
Itâs the way Capucine and her creative team interpret a pattern that makes a glass or a plate so timeless and broadly appealing. The recently launched Field of Flowers line, for example, was inspired by botanical drawings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Capucine says they studied many of them, cut out images of the ones they liked, pieced them together to create a âbouquet,â and voila! A new collection was born.
The Goodings source products all over the world, but theyâve established headquarters and a flagship store in the shadow of I-95, on Canal Street in Stamford.
Capucine was born in France and raised in the States; David left his native England to attend college in New York. They met in 1997 and married a year later. They couldnât be happier about having adopted Connecticut as their home. Theyâre bringing up their children (âthree girls, scalawags, ages eleven, ten, and seven,â says their mother) in Shippan Point, on the southern tip of Stamford. âWe consider ourselves very fortunate to live and work here,â she adds. âWe absolutely love it.â
She and her husband care deeply about everything Juliskaâfrom photo shoots and copywriting to merchandising to the team of professionals they work with. âI like to think thatâs what makes us different, she says. âIt all shows a lot of love.â
Juliskaâs products are manufactured wherever the couple finds the best artisans and craftspeople. âWe follow the craft,â Capucine says. âIf we know the best ceramics are coming out of Portugal, thatâs where weâll go. We make our Bohemian glass where they make it best, in the Czech Republic and Poland.â
They also strive to price their wares so that they are affordable for many people âWe know what our customer feels comfortable paying,â says Capucine. âItâs hard to keep our prices down sometimes, but we look at materials and go from there.â
Whatâs next? âWe definitely want to grow, wherever we can add value and bring the Juliska lifestyle to others,â she says. But the companyâs growth is measured. âWeâre introducing a small, edited collection of wood furniture, some dining tables, and armoires,â she adds, âinspired, as always, by fine craftsmanship and techniques.â
âOur customers say Juliska makes every day pretty for them, that itâs an everyday indulgence,â says Capucine. And that, in the end, is the companyâs simple mission. â˘
Juliska Flagship Store
(888) 414-8448
juliska.com
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