Lighting & Decor – July 2019

A

bout seven years ago, while
preparing to give a keynote
speech at High Point Market,
interior designer Julia Buckingham
had a bit of an ah-ha moment. While trying
to put a succinct name to her design style
that mixes high and low, doesn’t shy away
from color, and blends modern with vintage
and antiques, her husband — who works in
branding — suggested “Modernique.”
“I thought, oh my gosh, that’s perfect,” she
says. “So, I walked into High Point, I gave my
presentation, it was really well received and
it was really fun to finally
identif y, hey, this is who I
am; this is how I design.”
After the market, she got
back home to Chicago and
trademarked Modernique,
which would eventually
become the title of her
book released last year
and the name of her retail
showroom in Phoenix.
The 2,000-square-foot
home furnishings boutique
offers everything from
furniture to fabrics to home
decor — some of which
comes from Buckingham’s
licensed lines for manufac-
turers such as Global Views.
Modernique is also one of four Jonathan Adler
shop-in-shop locations in the world, which
Buckingham says is a great brand partnership
given Adler’s penchant for color and whimsy.
When customers walk into the boutique,
Buckingham says, she often hears gasps as
they take in the colors, patterns and styles on
display in the carefully arranged vignettes.
There might be a striking piece of wall art from
a local artisan next to a lacquered Mid-Century
cabinet from Bernhardt next to a rug sourced
during a trip to Morocco. This bold, eclectic
and no-rules aesthetic sets itself apart from
most of what people come across
in Arizona.
“It’s not cookie cutter,” she says. “It’s not
Southwestern in feel. It’s bringing a little bit of
the Midwest, of New York, of LA into a market

that’s really kind of just

beginning to see the light

that there are things beyond a

Santa Barbara look.”

Buckingham, who runs a

successful global interior design business

out of Chicago and splits her time between

there and Phoenix, got her start in fashion

at Neiman Marcus before transitioning to

working with antiques and interior design. All

of these sensibilities and strengths combine

at the Modernique shop, where she throws

events like a recent fashion show that featured

vintage fashion icon Robert Black and illus-

trator Peter Horjus.

Events like these make the showroom that

much more of an experience and a place for

relationship building, which Buckingham sees

as the future of brick-and-mortar

retail. She hopes her showroom

can be a meeting place for like-

minded people to enjoy the

space and good company.

She said she was blown

away by the attendance at

the shop’s recent one-year

anniversary party, and she’s

grateful to have a strong list of

brand-loyal repeat clients.

“It’s kind of like a little

family,” she says.

As for whether her style could be

considered maximalist, Buckingham says she

tends to shy away from definitive labels that

don’t leave room for change. But her love

for color — and lots of it — has taken off in

recent years.

“I would say that I began my career as more

of a minimalist in terms of color,” she says.

“The color explosion has grown through

the years for me, and now it’s absolutely

uncontrollable.” FLD

By Katie Caron

design stop

CREDIT: FRANK SIMON

22 | JUL.19 http://www.furniturelightingdecor.com

A COLOR EXPLOSION

Modernique stocks a wide range of home

furnishings products from Buckingham’s own

designed collections alongside antiques and

locally sourced art.