Julia Buckingham Edelmann Mixes Antiques & Modern Design for Something Entirely New
The daughter of an “antique-aholic,” Chicago designer Julia
Buckingham Edelmann recalls enduring many afternoons sitting on the back
staircase of one dingy “joint” or another while her mother searched for
treasures. ”She would drag me from shop to shop and I would think, ‘This is the
most boring, horrible thing that I have to be a part of as a child,’ Edelmann says
today with a laugh.
She doesn’t remember exactly when her love affair with aged
objects began to take hold. Only that it did. Now, far from those cob-webby
afternoons of her childhood, Edelmann is much more apt to describe antiques as,
well, sexy.
And “sexy” is an apt descriptor of Edelmann’s work as an
interior designer. Her firm,
Buckingham Interiors & Design, LLC, has gained
renown across the Mid-West for mixing styles and eras to create surprising,
whimsical and truly unique environments. It’s an approach she will explore during
a special presentation at the
Antique & Design Center at Market Square
during Fall Market entitled,
“Modern-ique:
Integrating Antiques and Artifacts with Modern Design for Today’s Lifestyles.”
The seminar is set for Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 2 p.m., and will take
place in the Mezzanine Level seminar space in historic Market Square. Expect available
seats to go fast.
In relating her story, Edelmann says, “I became a designer
in a serendipitous fashion. I majored in fashion merchandising at the University
of Arizona and went immediately to a big department store in LA for management
training. Eventually, I wanted to come home to Chicago, so I took a job at
Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue.”
Three children in five years were accompanied by numerous
moves on the home front. “We’ve had 11 homes in 25 years of marriage, mostly
because I love to renovate,” the designer says. Almost all were historic properties,
including three gut re-habs that were scheduled for tear down in the exclusive
Kenilworth suburb of Chicago’s North Shore.
While Edelmann admits that living in one room at a time
during these renovations, not to mention functioning in makeshift kitchens with
a growing family, could be daunting at times, her husband was the ideal partner
for the adventure. “He runs a brand consultancy agency, so he’s very design
oriented as well, and he has great spatial abilities,” she says. “We made a great
team and we had a lot of fun, much to the chagrin of our children!”
Along the way, Edelmann discovered an innate talent for
infusing her old houses with something new and different. Sometimes it was a
fantastic new paint color, at others a nine-foot-tall zinc building façade in
an entryway or a huge center table she created out of an anchor and chain from
the Great Lakes Naval Reserve.
“I traveled the world to find interesting artifacts,” she
says. “I was always gathering, seeing things and envisioning them in a
different light. I never bought just to fill a warehouse. I bought what my eye
was drawn to and I was very particular about what I purchased, because I don’t
believe you purchase a piece for a space; I think you buy something and find
the perfect space later, and then relish the comments.”
When her husband became president of a design firm in Cincinnati,
Edelmann began to frequent the many antique shops of O’Bryonville, Ohio. “There
was one store in particular that just blew me away. It was two floors in an
old, 1900’s building, and it was owned by four different women. Each had a room
in the building, and each worked one day a week and one Saturday a month. I
spent so much time in there that one of them finally said, “Julia, why don’t
you join us?” So she did.
It was an exhilarating chapter in her career. “I began to
spend every Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning in the field antiquing,”
Edelmann recalls. “I’d take my kids to school in the mornings, and spend the
afternoons hanging out with, and learning from, all of these characters in the
antiques world. I drove a Suburban and when I would pull up to the school to
pick up the kids, the other mothers would say, ‘Put your windows down! We want
to see what you bought today!’ or ‘Can we shop the back of your truck?’ ”
It wasn’t long before the young antiquer had a following of
regular customers who appreciated her eye for the special and unique. That
eventually led to her first foray into interior design, when a customer who had
purchased many items from her requested assistance in positioning all of the
pieces inside a new riverfront property. “I did it all by instinct,” Edelmann
remembers. “Really, measuring was secondary. It was just me eye-balling
everything. Looking back, I was very, very lucky!”
When the family moved back to Chicago, Edelmann launched a
new antiques venture with a partner. “We had this idea that if we traveled all
over the world and brought back furnishings and accessories and art, we could
furnish empty houses and then have special, four-day events where we would sell
it all. The pair knew they had hit on a winning concept when people began to
line up around the block to get inside one of their opening-night cocktail
parties.
Not surprisingly, many who bought during these events sought
out Edelmann for additional design assistance. “I remember the first time
someone wanted window treatments, and I thought, ‘Wow, I better get over to the
Merchandise Mart and educate myself!’ ”
Educate herself she did. Hard work and word of mouth about
the young design talent with a keen eye for the old took care of the rest. Today
Edelmann and her firm are typically at work on 30 to 40 different major design projects
at any given time. Her showroom, located in the burgeoning design district of
the West Town neighborhood of Chicago, has been gaining fame as an art gallery,
with significant exhibits featuring the likes of Francine Turk and
international fashion photographer Victor Skrebneski. Her latest home is being
featured in the new book Chicago Spaces: Inspiring Interiors from the editors
of Chicago Home + Garden Magazine, and Edelmann devotees can enjoy a more regular
fix by reading her posts as the Chicago contributor to the nationally known
MaterialGirls blog.
Through it all, in nearly every space she creates, there can
inevitably be found that one, out-of-the-ordinary, aged object. In the hands of
a lesser design talent, it might appear out-of-context. But for an old hand like
Julia Buckingham Edelmann, it simply sets the work apart.
Written by Kimberley Wray
Photo courtesy Julia Buckingham Edelmann
