Ken Fulk Thinks We Could All Use a Bit of Surrealism Right Now

The AD100 designer takes AD PRO behind the design of his new collection of fabrics, wallpapers, and rugs for Pierre Frey


When coming from the lips of Ken Fulk, the descriptors “courageous” and “fearless” shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all, intrepid interiors are the AD100 designer’s calling card. So when used in reference to his latest collaboration, a surrealism-inspired collection of fabrics, wallpaper, and rugs for Pierre Frey, Fulk immediately piqued interests.

“Given all the work we do, we’ve been a bit reluctant,” Fulk says of taking on the collection. Alas, the AD100 designer says, “If I’m going to wait this long, I should do it with the best and brightest.” A mutual admiration between him and the family-owned French textile company Pierre Frey became grounds for a partnership. The Surreal World Collection, the result of that collaboration, is compellingly in tune with the whimsy and otherworldly flair of Fulk’s interior and event designs, and launches today.

In conceptualizing the collection, Fulk was able to take his “weird little brain,” as he calls it, to Pierre Frey’s Paris headquarters and delved into its historical archive for inspiration. “I have these visions,” he says, noting that his inspiration comes from what moves him, as opposed to what’s missing in the marketplace. “It came from wanting to create a collection—almost more like fashion—in my mind. I wanted to put it together with a point of view that although varied, had cohesion.”

Back at his studio, Fulk and his team began hand-drawing the collection’s designs. He tapped into imagined muses, including figures of Tony Duquette, Piero Fornasetti, and Salvador Dalí, along with a cast of characters from what he imagined as a “fantastical dinner party.” Together, these coalesced into a Surrealist Ball scheme, which manifests in designs like the panoramic, Maynard Dixon-influenced Sheltering Sky wallpaper, as well as more more dramatic moments, like the shadowy, geometric Brutalist pattern. Masterfully playing with scale and repeats, the collection tells a theatrical tale.

All of the hours spent with Pierre Frey’s physical history had their influences too. When devising the colorways, Fulk “took literal threads and pulled the color palettes. It was very tactile,” he says. Expressive hues ranging from celadon to olive green and soft pink—plus a few grounding neutrals—enrich silks, velvets, and even performance fabrics throughout the collection.

The choice of the latter material option speaks to a cause near and dear to Fulk, a self-professed canine lover. (His studio has nearly as many dogs as it does people roaming it on a daily basis.) “They’re beloved and part of the environment, so we wanted to honor them,” he says. Beyond the choice of performance fabric, the collection also includes Designer Dogs, a design featuring portraits of Fulk’s beloved pups.

In the ultimate seal of approval, Fulk is in the process of installing the collection’s fabrics, wallpaper, and rugs throughout his four-story San Francisco studio, dubbed the Magic Factory West. The interiors, which Fulk admits haven’t been reimagined in some 15 years, are now getting a surreal update. “We’ve re-covered the sofas, wallpapered the walls, covered the beds,” he says. “It’s quite something that will be exciting to share.”