Step Inside Ken Fulk’s Cinematic Universe
Action Flicks knocks out projects for air (a private jet with hand-tufted carpet) and sea (a custom yacht), while Period Dramas returns to terra firma—specifically, 18th-century Provincetown, where Fulk and his husband transformed a building first built by whalers into a restrained, if not overly reverent, space for the Provincetown Arts Society. “It’s really become a sort of connective tissue for all the arts organizations,” he says. “The community of folks here have really inhabited it. It’s heartwarming to see it filled with life and art.”
Both fill the Epic Romances section. There, readers will uncover an array of spaces: a couple’s more-is-more, jewel-toned Texas love nest; the romantic-fantastic interiors of the Felix Coffee Co. cafés in New York and Aspen, which froth up Aesthetic Movement references and arabica flower wallpaper; and a higher love of pink and purple, which elevate San Francisco’s 1913 neo-Romanesque Saint Joseph’s church into an inspired society for art and artists.
For all the popcorn thrills of Fulk’s bold casting of color and historical references, though, the book convincingly argues he’s achieved auteur status. His Mill House near Silicon Valley uses the walls of an historic Tudor manse as a silver screen. “I wanted it to feel opinionated, alive,” he says. In place of klieg lights, a Stuart Haygarth chandelier catches the eye. “It’s made of carnival horses that have been cast and mounted, and it must weigh thousands of pounds. It was a real feat to get it up there.” Elsewhere, a nook becomes impossibly vast thanks to an eye-popping wallcovering not unlike the anaglyphic red/blue of 3D glasses. “It’s such a fun move. It’s bold, but the family uses every inch of it,” he says.
Every movie proves that another world is possible. The point is to make it happen. “Of course, you may screw up sometimes, but it’s thrilling to go on the journey,” he says. “It’s what keeps me up at night: great joy. It’s the key to an exciting life.” And even, if you’re lucky, a Hollywood ending.
