Hospitality Design - November 2023 - 19

The living room at Fulk's
Provincetown, Massachusetts home
Fulk's Tribeca loft in New York
resembles a gentlemen's club
Dog portraits line a
corridor in Provincetown
Vintage finds fill the
kitchen in Provincetown
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in rural Virginia in a town called
Harrisonburg in the middle of the Shenandoah
Valley. I lived there my entire life until I went
to college in Virginia. Since I can remember,
I would go pick out my own clothes: my little
blazers with the blue buttons. I was in charge
of every holiday. Even a simple Sunday lunch,
I had to set the table, climb on the step stool, get
the china out, cut the flowers. I'm still that same
person. I saw the world through beautiful, rosecolored
lenses. It wasn't so much about being in
charge as it was about wanting others to have the
best possible experience. I still feel that today, and
it's what we do for our clients.
Did you travel much as a kid?
We would go on family vacations that involved
piling in the car. We weren't jaunting off to
Europe. But in my mind, I sure was. It was the
active imagination of a child. When I was a little
kid, my parents would bring me out and say,
'Tell everyone where you're going to live when
you grow up.' And I said, 'Manhattan.' I'd been
A Provincetown bedroom takes
cues from its seaside location
Artwork frames a staircase
in Provincetown
maybe a hundred miles from my house. And
they're like, 'Where will you live in this land
called Manhattan?' And I was like, 'A penthouse.'
It was always in me that I was meant to have this
big, crazy life. We did a book launch last year, and
I was on top of the Chrysler Building with [real
estate developer] Aby Rosen. We were standing
there together out on the terrace overlooking New
York, and I said, 'Aby, did you dream when you
were a kid that you would be the prince of New
York owning these iconic buildings?' And he
said, 'I always knew I would leave Germany, but I
didn't know I would do all of this.' He said, 'What
about you, Ken?' And I said, 'Absolutely. It's all I
ever thought about.'
What were your parents like?
My dad grew up on a farm, lied about his age,
and joined the Army at 17. He did go off and see
the world, and came home and met my mother
at a dance. She was dancing with her sisters,
and he was watching. It's kind of the tale of
their marriage in some ways. She danced, and
he watched. Her family owned restaurants,
and my parents owned some restaurants. It
was a busy life. My mother's family held sway.
They were loud, and they'd show up to the
house at midnight as if it were afternoon tea.
My family was matriarchal, and entertaining
was essential. You knew how to throw a good
dinner party. You knew how to welcome people
to your home and make them feel like they
belonged.
Did you always know you wanted to be a
designer?
I went to Mary Washington College, which is
now the University of Mary Washington [in
Fredericksburg, Virginia]. I loved my college
experience. But I didn't know what I wanted to
do. I was an English major and a history major,
and I'm a decent writer. I thought I might go to
law school because it was the only way I could
think of delaying deciding what to do. I took a
sales job for 3M. It was like joining the Army. It
was intense, and I hated it, but I'm competitive.
And so I had to be good at it. I quickly realized,
'What have I done?'
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Hospitality Design - November 2023

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