Capucine De Wulf and the Art of Living Beautifully

From the tableware people gather around to the jewelry women wear around it, the designer behind Juliska and Capucine De Wulf has built a creative world where beauty is meant to be used, layered, loved and lived with.

There is a particular kind of luxury that becomes more interesting once the dinner party has actually started.

The flowers may have shifted slightly out of place. Someone has abandoned the seating plan. The candles have burned lower than expected, dinner is running late, and nobody seems particularly interested in leaving.

For designer and entrepreneur Capucine De Wulf Gooding, that may be when the table is at its best.

“The most memorable gatherings are often delightfully imperfect,” she says.

That philosophy helps explain the creative thread running through two seemingly different brands. In 2001, De Wulf and her husband, David, founded Juliska with 40 pieces of mouth-blown Bohemian glassware. Seventeen years later, after years of quietly sketching jewelry alongside her tableware designs, she launched the namesake Capucine De Wulf jewelry collection.

One dresses the table. The other dresses the woman sitting at it.

But to De Wulf, they belong to the same world.

Beauty That Does Not Wait for a Special Occasion

The original idea behind Juliska emerged while the newlywed couple was traveling through Europe and became captivated by the artistry and romance of Bohemian glassware.

They saw an opportunity to bring some of that European craftsmanship into American homes, but the greater idea was less about glass than about how it would be used.

De Wulf did not want beautiful things tucked away waiting for Thanksgiving, an anniversary, or guests important enough to justify opening a particular cabinet. She wanted them present on an ordinary Tuesday night.

That philosophy feels particularly relevant now. Luxury at home is becoming less about formality and increasingly about thoughtful objects, comfortable rooms and rituals that make everyday life feel considered. It is the same principle behind creating a dinner party that feels special without turning the host into a nervous event planner, something we explored in FINE’s guide to small luxuries that make a dinner party feel expensive.

For De Wulf, a beautiful table is ultimately about making people feel cared for.

Fresh flowers help. So do candles, handwritten place cards and small unexpected details. Perfection, however, is optional.

“What matters most is the joy of bringing people you love together, making them feel welcome, and creating moments that become cherished memories,” she says.

A French Point of View With an American Wink

De Wulf was born in Paris to a French father and a Texan mother, and the combination has become central to her creative vocabulary.

She describes her aesthetic as “European with an American sensibility.”

The French side gravitates toward things that look collected rather than acquired all at once — pieces with history, layers and a little old-world romance. Her American side brings optimism, color and a willingness to break the rules.

It is an appealing combination because neither side is particularly interested in rooms, tables or outfits that look overly coordinated.

Whether she is designing a tablescape, choosing jewelry or putting together what to wear, De Wulf likes the friction between traditional and unexpected.

That also places her comfortably within a broader movement away from anonymous ideas of “timeless” design. As FINE recently explored in Quiet Luxury From Living Room to Wardrobe, longevity does not have to mean beige, restrained or devoid of personality.

De Wulf agrees.

“Timelessness isn't the absence of personality,” she says. “In fact, I believe the most timeless pieces often have the strongest point of view.”

For her, the equation combines proportion, craftsmanship, distinctive design and a story that can survive changing trends.

From the Table to the Jewelry Box

Jewelry was not a calculated brand extension.

It had been waiting in the margins.

De Wulf had been sketching jewelry for years, inspired in part by her mother and grandmother and their strong sense of personal style. The designs would turn up even in the margins of her tableware sketchbooks.

Eventually, ignoring them became harder than pursuing them.

Jewelry gave her another way to explore ideas already present in her work — womanhood, family, memory, individuality and the significance we assign to objects.

Her own description of the relationship between the brands may be the simplest.

“With Juliska, we created the tableware people gather around, and with Capucine De Wulf, I created the jewelry women wear around it.”

Once you see the two brands that way, the connection is obvious.

Both encourage collecting rather than replacing. Both invite layering and mixing. Both are designed to become more personal rather than less relevant as the years pass.

“The design is simply the beginning,” De Wulf says. “The life you live in it becomes the real story.”

Jewelry With Something to Say

Meaning often comes before form in De Wulf's jewelry.

A butterfly can represent transformation. A knot can speak to enduring love. Flowers may suggest femininity and growth. Other ideas begin with a person, a place or a memory.

The symbolism is intentional, but De Wulf leaves room for the wearer to rewrite the meaning.

That is what separates personal jewelry from jewelry that is simply decorative. The strongest pieces tend to accumulate associations. A necklace bought on a trip eventually becomes the necklace from that trip. A bracelet marks a birthday. A ring begins as an object and quietly turns into part of someone's identity.

It is a philosophy closely aligned with the idea of jewelry worth collecting over a lifetime, where permanence comes less from following rules than from choosing pieces that continue to feel personal.

De Wulf encourages mixing metals, layering sentimental pieces beside playful ones and ignoring prescriptions about what supposedly belongs together.

“The fewer rules the better,” she says.

The Luxury of Being Less Perfect

That same loosening of rules is happening around the table.

De Wulf sees entertaining becoming more relaxed and expressive, with heirlooms sitting beside contemporary pieces and indoor traditions migrating outdoors. Matching everything matters less. Personality matters more.

“The perfect mix doesn't have to match,” she says.

It is perhaps the clearest expression of the world she has spent 25 years creating.

Not beauty behind glass. Not jewelry saved indefinitely in its box. Not the immaculate dining room nobody actually wants to eat in.

Objects are there to participate.

They are supposed to acquire history.

A Second Act Without an Expiration Date

There is another part of De Wulf's story that may resonate even with someone who has little interest in tableware or jewelry.

She did not pursue every creative idea at once.

For years, jewelry remained something she sketched while building Juliska and raising her family. Rather than seeing those years as time lost, she now views them as preparation.

Her definition of success has changed as well. Earlier in her career, she says, there was an element of proving to herself that she could build something meaningful. Today, the life surrounding the work carries equal weight.

Her most important role, she says, is being a mother.

And for anyone who has quietly kept an idea in the proverbial drawer because its moment seems to have passed, De Wulf offers a useful correction.

“A creative idea doesn't have an expiration date.”

Those intervening years, she explains, gave her experience, perspective and confidence.

“There is never a perfect moment to start something. Sometimes, you just have to begin.”

For a designer whose work is so closely tied to timelessness, perhaps that is fitting.

The good things, after all, were never supposed to be saved for later.

Related articles from Fine Magazine

• Small Luxuries That Make a Dinner Party Feel Expensive
• Quiet Luxury From Living Room to Wardrobe The Principles That Never Date
• The Jewelry That Earns Its Place, Timeless Pieces Worth Collecting Over a Lifetime