An Exclusive Interview With Swan Ball Designer Ken Fulk

In his recently released book, The Movie in My Mind, Swan Ball designer Ken Fulk says, “If you’re gonna make up a life, make up a good one.” And in the first few minutes of talking with him, it’s clear that he is genuinely grateful for the big, crazy, wonderful world that he’s created. Ken is internationally known for his interior design — having been named on the AD100, ELLE Decor A-List and more — and for the lavish, outrageously fun events — more appropriately called experiences — that he dreams up for clients. Now, the Swan Ball is one of them.

Ken doesn’t ordinarily do events like Swan Ball, but after Swan Award recipient Mish Tworkowski, whom Ken calls “The Great Connector,” made the all-important introductions, he eagerly signed on. The design began with plans for the 2021 Ball, which was ultimately canceled, but they continued to evolve as hopes for 2022 became reality. As anyone who attended the Swan Ball can attest, it was more than worth the wait to experience Ken’s vision and execution, which were undeniably fantastic, colorful and over the top.

No stranger to supporting the arts and preservation, Ken launched Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation in San Francisco, the nonprofit arm of his Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, which celebrates arts and culture in that area. We had the privilege of chatting with Ken at Cheekwood while last-minute preparations for the Ball went on around us. He talked about his new book, why it’s important to give back and more.

How do you describe what you do?

I think I finally found a term for it, because it isn’t easily categorized because we do so many things. I think last on the list would be an event planner. We don’t really do events. We do experiences for our clients, and those experiences range from houses and hotels [to] planes and boats. I think I’m more of a director than anything else. I get to be the director or the choreographer [or] the cinematographer of not only things like this, the Swan Ball, but also, really, of our clients’ lives.

How did you pick the projects for your new book, The Movie in My Mind?

It wasn’t easy. We narrowed it down to 75 projects, and after we got it to 75, I found out we had to cut 25 more. … So we put in an In Memoriam section in the middle of the book for all the projects that got cut, but even that got cut. It was hard because some of my favorite projects didn’t even make the book. We definitely are going to do another book pretty quickly because we have so many wonderful projects.

What are some of your most memorable projects?

They’re all like love affairs. It’s whatever you’re doing now that you sort of fall deeply, madly in love with, so they tend to be the ones in front of me.

When you are entertaining at home, what do you do?

The key to any party is you have to have a good time. Because if you don’t have a good time, no one else is having a good time. I almost feel like that’s my job, to be the sort of cheerleader through the party, to have a great time and to truly enjoy it. Because I feel like if I can do that, then others will too.

How does your Southern upbringing play a role?

I grew up in Virginia, in a family where hosting and being hospitable was just part of the nature, [and] I think Nashville falls under that same spell. … I wrote in our first book [that] I didn’t grow up in a world where people had decorators or party planners. You just sort of learn to be a good host. You learn to throw a dinner party, and you learn to dress up and look the part. Being of that place and being Southern, and for all the good things that that can mean, it definitely sticks with me.

Your second book is out and you have a project at the Four Seasons here. What’s next?

We’re working on some wonderful projects that we will own and operate, including Blantyre, a Gilded Age estate up in the Berkshires, which has been a hotel for probably the past, I don’t know, 30, 40, 50 years. But we’ve taken it over, and we are restoring it, reimagining it. Also, the Soniat House in New Orleans, which is an amazing collection of [townhouses] in the oldest part of the Quarter. Those are fun to give birth to, and that’s exciting.

Can you tell me more about the Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation?

I’m glad you know about Saint Joseph’s because we founded that in 2018. It’s now in three locations. There’s the Provincetown Arts Society in an old whaling captain’s house that we bought and restored, [and that] has eight bedrooms that artists get to come and stay and live in. It is chock-full of amazing programming, and it’s really about supporting the arts organizations there and building a community. About six or eight weeks ago, we opened Little Saint, sort of the “country cousin” of Saint Joseph’s, in wine country, in Healdsburg, where we teamed [up] with the folks who have a restaurant named Single Thread, a three-Michelin star restaurant there. It’s all about the community in that wonderful, little town, and music is a big part of it. We have wonderful live music, and we have talks and conversations and exhibitions. It’s fun to see all of that grow because I was worried, during the pandemic, that it may all just come to a stop, and instead, the community grew.

What’s your outlook on giving back to the community?

That is a charge for all of us. I think, for anyone who was given a great privilege, like myself, it’s vital to give back. … I think that it’s an intrinsically American thing, the idea that you give back, that you give back in a meaningful way, whatever your capacity is, with your time, your talent, your resources, whatever it may be. Also, it just goes back to basic kindness. I think our world would be a lot better place if we all just reminded ourselves to be kind to one another.

Photographs by Drew Altizer, Michael Blanchard, Brendan Mainini and Sasithon Pooviriyakul