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Inside, design mastermind Ken Fulk dreamed up a series of equally inspiring vistas. “It’s a new structure, but we wanted the surfaces to feel soulful, like a human had touched them,” says Fulk of the house’s unvarnished finishes, from hand-plastered walls to the leather-like honed marble kitchen island. A close-knit family with a busy lifestyle, they wanted a home that could accommodate groups of all sizes. A place to escape, a place for family and friends to gather, a place where they could cut loose and celebrate.
Inspiration at your fingertips
Fashioned of chrome and as shiny as disco balls, the mythical creatures ringing the chandelier in the front entrance set the stage for a home whose spellbinding eccentricity only intensifies upon further exploration. Stocked with a to-die-for modern art collection and auction-worthy pieces created by a who’s who of the furniture-design world, the house is a cabinet of curiosities. It’s also proof that the pushing of boundaries and the primacy of comfort can, in fact, live in equal balance. “As we begin with every project, I create these movies in my head,” explains Fulk. “So for this project, I imagined a Howard Hughes–type character who had fallen in love with someone and built [for them] this hacienda-style retreat from another era.” And with the charming timeworn feel, inside and out, it’s very easy to forget the home is actually an entirely new creation.
This Sonoma Estate Is a Cinematic Masterpiece from Beginning to End
Ken Fulk and the Rug Company Create a Whimsical Collection - Hospitality Design
Ken Fulk and the Rug Company Create a Whimsical Collection.
Posted: Tue, 12 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
“I do strive hard not to have a signature look, but there is an obvious DNA to the things that we create that makes the spaces easily identifiable.” His most recent endeavor that serves as a shining example of his design philosophy? The ’Quin House, a members-only social club that opened this summer in Boston’s famous Back Bay neighborhood. Founders Sandy and Paul Edgerley brought on Fulk as the creative director, handing him the reins for every formative element of the coveted spot on Commonwealth Avenue, from the logo to the paint colors, and of course, the magical, transcendent interiors. In other words, they don’t seem to feel like they just suddenly appeared; they look as if they’ve subtly adapted to a more contemporary landscape without losing its historical roots,” Fulk notes. The Virginia-born designer has spent the last 20 years developing a business from turning his clients’ dreams into reality. Fulk has become the curator of lifestyles, not only designing homes, restaurants and hotels but also choreographing unforgettable weddings, parties and family getaways.
Ken Fulk always starts with a story
Ken Fulk’s team is an agglomeration of the best of the best, with designers, architects, and even brand specialists. It’s more than just the setting, or the luxurious amenities, or the speed at which a club sandwich and a Diet Coke can be delivered to your room. A great hotel needs good energy—that hard-to-define feeling of being transported and delighted, but also very much at home. The Hamels and Fulk spent a few months after the fire assessing the situation, before beginning the literal process of clearing the ashes as the two-year project got underway. It was agreed that the home shouldn’t feel new, but instead a reinvention of the original structure—including a separate screening room and a wine cave. “Even though it’s been completely rebuilt, every space is filled with lots of meaning for them and for us,” says Fulk.
When DeVincent clocked the mural behind the bar at Greydon House, a nearby bed-and-breakfast, he got the idea. It turned out Fulk actually knew the muralist—Dean Barger, based in Maine—so they invited him down to create an artwork of their own, depicting the view from the back of the house, over the course of a few days. These storied heirlooms mix in with midcentury classics, and a range of nautical-themed works, many of them by Provincetown artists sourced from Bakker Gallery in Provincetown. Fulk suggests, “The extremely curated art program is an integral part of this big building.” And it’s quite clear upon walking through the stately entrance, where guests are greeted with Rodin’s Penseur, Petit Modèle.
Bathrooms are stocked with full-sized products from the Sicilian beauty brand Ortigia, which makes freshening up all the more pleasant. And, this being a city known for its nightlife, the windows are also fitted with highly effective blackout blinds. As one half of Dannijo, Danielle Snyder is used to designing as part of a team. Together with her sister, Jodie Morel, she has been concocting celeb-adored colorful jewelry (and now, clothing) since 2008. But when Snyder got married in 2019, she got a new creative partner in the form of her husband.
Just thumb through his new book, Mr. Ken Fulk’s Magical World (Abrams), for a peek inside some of the elaborate homes he has devised for Bay Area tech giants and entrepreneurs and a look at the Battery, a five-level private club he helped conceive. The book also offers a tableside view of some of the wild parties that have made him famous. In a nod to Truman Capote’s legendary black-and-white ball, he once hosted a masked affair where socialites and Silicon Valley magnates rubbed elbows with drag queens and leather daddies. For Napster cofounder Sean Parker’s woodland wedding, he draped shimmering streamers from the oldest redwoods in California. A counterpart to his four-story base of operations in San Francisco—dubbed the Magic Factory—the New York spot will provide a stylish anchorage from which Fulk can conduct business on the East Coast.
Room Request! Casa San Agustín
The Goodtime Hotel, a collaborative endeavor between David Grutman of Groot Hospitality and Pharrell Williams, is set to become a neighborhood-defining destination. Aptly named Smoketree—for its lone surviving deciduous flowering tree with clustering smokelike plumes—the property is once again a gathering spot for the Hamel’s growing family. And with another grandchild on the way, new memories are already being made—thanks to the cinematic vision of a true design auteur. As the 2017 Northern California wildfires swept through its picturesque wine country, vintners Pam and George Hamel valiantly battled to save their namesake Sonoma winery. While their 124-acre ranch was saved, they discovered after the flames finished racing through the foothills, their nearby home was ultimately reduced to ashes. Determined to rebuild, the Hamels turned to longtime friend Ken Fulk to reimagine the decimated property where they’d made so many wonderful memories since starting Hamel Family Wines several years earlier.
Former NFL Player Michael Bennett Tackles Furniture
As with a number of residences designed by Callister, it blends midcentury modernism and traditional Japanese elements. The outdoor area features tiled “twin pools” connected by a runway and surrounded by retro-chic cabanas, where guests can enjoy cocktails in private. Years ago, while enjoying a bottle of Casa Grande on vacation in Mexico, my clients joked that it would make a great name for a getaway.
Designed like a boutique hotel with a lobby restaurant and rooftop lounge, the 224-unit building will offer residents a taste of Fulk’s extraordinary experiences, from interior design and party planning to weekly floral market and guest performances. He is renowned for his layered interiors and over-the-top parties. With a team of 50 “magic makers” to help bring his ideas to life, Fulk leads a team of architects, designers, branding and event specialists in both San Francisco and New York. Ken Fulk is an outstanding interior designer with a unique style to everything that he creates. He is renowned for his layered interiors, high-concept brand identities, and unforgettable parties. The duo tapped designer Ken Fulk, known for his ability to bring just the right amount of theatrics to comfortable, inviting spaces, to build out the 266-room property, which takes up an entire city block and also features a buzzy restaurant, Strawberry Moon, and a 30,000 square foot pool club.
I went into business with a friend, and we made shower curtains and pillows that I designed. Then, I started another company that was bed linens and pajamas for kids. They hired me to decorate their new apartment without any constraints. I sanded the floors, I painted the walls, I sewed the drapes, and delivered a turnkey apartment.
I’ve known these clients for a long time, having first developed a friendship rooted in a shared understanding that life is short and how you live it really matters. When we undertook this project, we had already collaborated on one home and had shared a host of adventures that often led to dancing on tables into the wee hours. As a result, we had developed a shorthand that helped inform not only the look but also the feeling of this house.
Fulk, 48, is widely considered to be San Francisco’s secret social weapon. He’s the man trusted by society swells and Silicon Valley heavyweights alike to help plan perfect parties, decorate jaw-dropping homes or curate any aspect of their rarefied lives. “It’s great to have that tension between the original elements and the contemporary ones we added. It was a big responsibility to create something that feels aesthetically relevant at its core,” Fulk explains. In recent years, Ken Fulk has expanded his impact around the globe. In addition to current residential work from Mexico to Miami and Provence to Provincetown, Ken Fulk is making his mark in New York with a new concept for rental residences on West 38th Street, slated to open this spring.
But what they dreamed of was far from a simple beach house; they wanted to create a truly remarkable destination that would be a draw for generations to come. For years my husband, Kurt, and I had rented an old camp on the north shore for two weeks in the summer and had developed a deep fondness for the place. At its core, however, the real pull for both of us is the otherworldly beauty, an ever-changing source of profound inspiration.
“I had never been trained as a designer,” Fulk points out, having instead graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a degree in English and history. “I never wanted anyone to tell me what kind of business I was supposed to have because it might limit me,” he adds. To inject the wonderland feel, they turned to San Francisco design impresario Ken Fulk, the man-about-town whose dapper suits and razzle-dazzle stagecraft have made him a West Coast favorite (just ask Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom or Fulk’s newest BFF, Gigi Hadid). From flower delivery and party planning to nose-to-tail home design, Fulk’s decor “think tank” does it all. What’s more, he and his staffers do it themselves, designing and creating bespoke curtains, wallpaper, and furnishings for clients.
There’s the living room, a low-slung oasis of statement furniture in outré yet cozy tones of salmon and hollandaise sauce. By the pool is a vintage-ish vignette, with striped umbrellas that conjure Patricia Highsmith by way of Palo Alto. The floral-curtained dining room channels an adolescent Diana Spencer until you notice the ornate marble slab that supports the table, designed by Italian architect Vincenzo de Cotiis.
