At Home with Barclay Butera

Barclay Butera has spent more than three decades shaping American interiors. Known for rooms that pair glamour with comfort, the Newport Beach designer has created homes from the California coast to Park City. His eye extends to the objects inside them: he has developed collections with Lexington Home Brands, Kravet, and Jaipur Living, bringing his approach to furniture, textiles, and rugs.

Syncere’s collaboration with Butera began at High Point Market, where he discovered Lume. The Palo Alto connection caught his attention first: Butera grew up there, and Syncere has roots in the same city. Then he saw the lamp. Its sculptural form belonged among the furniture and lighting he spends his days considering. Its ability to move and help with tasks offered something he had not expected from an object designed for the home.

For a designer, that balance matters. Lighting helps set the mood of a room, but it also has work to do. Lume brings focused light where it is needed and, beyond lighting, can help with everyday chores. It adds capability without asking a carefully designed space to accommodate a conventional-looking robot.

Butera later called discovering Syncere one of his highlights of High Point Market. In an Instagram post, he praised the way its technology could bring functionality and convenience into a home “without compromising aesthetics.” Coming from a designer whose work is so closely tied to the experience of living in a beautiful room, that response meant a great deal.

The collaboration brings together two perspectives on the home: Butera’s understanding of how a room should feel, and Syncere’s belief that the objects within it can do more. With Lume, the future of home robotics can look right at home.