We recently connected with Julia Camara Calvo and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Julia, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Atacama Home was a passion project of Dora Medrano and Javier Carbo, who traveled all over Latin America, Spain and Portugal, and found that “Latin design” was highly misrepresented in the design world. They started this brand to bring high-end, luxury, hand-made decor to the US and prove these misconceptions wrong, and promote Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese artisans and designers. It all started many years ago when Dora and Javier had a production company making commercials for the US Hispanic Market. Having a background in production design, Dora helped with this project’s set, which was supposed to be the inside of a Hispanic family’s home. When the client saw this carefully-curated set, they claimed “no Hispanic family would have this style”. This touched Dora’s creative sensitivity profoundly, and she vowed she’d work on shattering these preconceived ideas -because she knew how much beauty, heart and extreme taste and unique style Latin America (and by extension Spain and Portugal) has. She then spent years collecting objects and contacts… building the foundation of what Atacama Home is today.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Julia Camara Calvo, and I’m the new owner of Atacama Home. I come from a production background, which is how I met Dora and Javier. When Dora was ready to launch her new brand, Atacama Home, during Dwell on Design in the spring of 2018, she called me to help her, and I haven’t looked back ever since :) Atacama Home is a home decor boutique offering luxury products hand-made by expert artisans in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.
We partner with small studios, designers and artisan collectives to bring unique, one-of-a-kind decor to our customers in the US and beyond. Everything is hand-made in small batches with natural materials, and we offer a wide range of made-to-order/custom-made products. Rugs, blankets, throw pillows, wall art, ceramics, dinnerware, sculptures, candles… Atacama Home is your one-stop decor store for your residential and commercial projects alike.
We’re a three-pronged endeavor: we have a brick and mortar store in the West Hollywood Design District, we sell online through our e-commerce website, and we work with the trade, working as a showroom for independent designers and large design studios alike.
We started with a showroom in the Arts District in DTLA. By the end of 2018, we had been offered a 3-month pop-up opportunity at the brand new ROW DTLA. By the end of this 3-month tenure, we had found a new permanent home for us on Melrose in the West Hollywood Design District, as well as a dedicated manutailer space at HDButtercup in the famous Culver City Helms Bakery District.
The pandemic brought its obvious hardships, but it was Dora’s struggle with cancer that brought the real challenges to our little brand. I slowly took on more and more responsibilities, until Dora tragically passed away in May of 2021. Her loving husband Javier took over ownership of Atacama Home, but after two years he decided to retire and sell me the business that I have learned to love and take care of as my own. I became the oficial owner of Atacama Home in February of 2023, and I’m excited to push this company forward in a new world, alongside my trusted artisan partners.
A little more about me:
I’m a native of the La Rioja region in Northern Spain (wine country).
I studied Film, TV and Radio production at the Complutense University of Madrid, in Spain, and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. I moved to Los Angeles in March 2013, and I was a production manager and a stage actor before switching gears with Atacama Home in 2018.
I learned everything about design, craftsmanship, and beauty from Dora, who became a new mentor. We attended design events and fairs, met designers and artisans, and slowly but surely built the brand it is today.
Some fun facts about me: I work as a professional party faerie on the weekends, have a three-legged cat named Gatita, I’ve had all sort of jobs (from market cashier to teaching robotics to children), I volunteered at an animal shelter for years (where I would read books to cats, among other tasks), and I have studied 7 languages… of which I only fluently speak 2.5.
Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.
I guess I have that kind of success story where I became the owner of the company I used to work for. It was always a small company, but it all boils down to hard work and caring for what you’re doing. When you feel the company’s stakes as your own, because you’re the one stirring the ship on a daily basis, it becomes apparent to others that the company is “yours”, even though in your head you’re still “just” and employee. The day Javier offered me to buy the business, I thought he was going to tell me he had decided to close shop and lay me and my assistant off.
I was nervous and giddy, but mostly terrified of making this decision. No matter what I chose, it was going to mean a huge change in my life. I had love ones with extremely dividing opinions… but at the end of the day it was my confidence in myself what pushed me to take on my job as an owner. It’s a challenge, because it’s really hard to make a profit with retail these days. But as anxiety-inducing as it may be, I get excited with every new challenge and idea and proposal to move the company forward. And it’s forcing me to get used to making mistakes, which in turn is teaching me to be so much kinder to myself and others.
Any advice for managing a team?
I learned SO MUCH from Dora Medrano, my old boss and founder of Atacama Home. No matter the mistakes or hardships, she was always extremely kind. She was also always very grateful -she never missed an opportunity to appreciate my work, which I learned is key to building employee, customer, and vendor/partner trust and relationship. I try to be this way not only at work but also in my personal life! I think it makes a huge difference when it comes to customer service and my relationship with my artisans and designer partners. As Dora used to say, and became part of our brand ethos: “Beauty expressed in behavior is called kindness” 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://atacamahome.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atacamahome/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atacamahomela
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/atacamahomeLA/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@atacamahome
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr6E16UTZBpDJb5_GkLMVow
- Other: hello@atacamahome.com | 8627 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90069 | (+1) 424-777-0332
Image Credits
Maria Voylokov (Julia’s portrait)