Ken Fulk Talks Journey to Design Stardom and New Book

Through word of mouth and referrals, Fulk built his brand, and along the way he became a favorite of the society set and the tech crowd. His flamboyant designs, his penchant for animal prints and taxidermy, his overflowing florals, and an ability to display art in original ways caught the eye of big-name San Francisco style arbiters. Denise Hale, Alexis and Trevor Traina, and Anna Weinberg and James Nicholas are his friends. Kevin Systrom and Jeremy Stoppelman are his clients. John Legend, Dita von Teese, and Stevie Nicks have performed at his events. Everyone wants a piece of the Ken Fulk funfetti cake and it’s easy to see why. He’s incredibly charming. Chat with him for 15 minutes and you can’t help but laugh out loud. He sees the world through rose-colored glasses (well perhaps not rose; that’s too ordinary for Fulk) and his genuine enthusiasm for the good life is contagious. Where everyone else sees darkness, Fulk manages to find a spark. He ignites it by creating something memorable and magical, be it a beautiful living room in a  one-bedroom apartment or an over-the-top party for 400 with a post-apocalyptic snow lodge theme.

Photo Credit: Drew Altizer

Fulk has always seen himself as something of a storyteller. He is a narrator, a stage setter, a puppeteer, and a magician who creates a scene. The story unfurls in what seems like a natural way, but behind the scenes, the puppeteer is orchestrating everything down to the last detail. “In many ways, I’m the same person I was when I was seven years old,” Fulk said. “I took charge of every dinner party. I cut and arranged the flowers. At Christmas, I had to build the fire and decorate the tree. Everyone had to be quiet at a certain time. I joke that I made it all up, my life, because I kind of did.” With the book, Fulk is opening up his life to the public. He’s making his story, previously only accessible to those with deep pockets, available to everyone. “I was really adamant about not wanting to do a design tome with pictures of one house after another house after another house,” Fulk said. “So I kind of told how this crazy world that we’ve happened upon came to be. I share a little bit of what we do. The book is really a personal extension of myself. It’s not so much a how-to; it’s more a through-the-looking- glass approach. The thing I am most proud of is that I wrote every last word.” Readers will learn about the Magic Factory, Fulk’s SoMA design studio; the Tree House, the Clarendon Heights home that he shares with partner Kurt Wootton and his three golden retrievers; and Provincetown, Massachusetts, his Cape Cod happy place where he owns a beach house that he travels to every weekend, May through October.