My Favourite Pieces: Ken Fulk on the animal appeal of cufflinks

July 6, 2023 By Kate Youde Financial Times

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Cufflinks are a “chance for personal expression” for Ken Fulk. “Mildly obsessed with sartorial flair” from a young age, the American interior and events designer noticed, when growing up in small-town Virginia in the 1980s, that there was “only a certain amount of ornamentation” that a gentleman could add to an outfit. “I always saw life in a very cinematic way and had a Hollywood idea around dress and style, and cufflinks were one of those adornments,” says Fulk, whose eponymous business has offices in San Francisco and New York. His “gateway” to cufflinks was borrowing a pair from his father for a high school formal dance. He now owns a couple of hundred pairs, including his late father’s collection, and is attracted to pieces with “a personality and a quirk to them”. There is “something slightly a wink and a nod” about cufflinks, he says. “I like having something that feels a little like it might just be there for me, and for others who are keen enough to take notice.”

1. Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria cufflinks (2019)

A gift from the Italian fashion designer Domenico Dolce and his partner, Gui Siqueira, this one-of-a-kind emerald and gold pair features a diamond at the back of the clasp that only Fulk gets to see. “They really mean something not because they’re fancy or extravagant but because of the sentiment behind them and the friendship that resulted in them,” he says. Fulk became friends with Dolce after designing headdresses for a Dolce & Gabbana runway show in 2017. Dolce had seen a headdress that Fulk had designed for a mutual friend to wear to a ball in Venice, itself inspired by a piece Elizabeth Taylor had worn to a Venetian ball, and asked Fulk to make three more.

2. Ivory hounds (1920s)

Apart from those received as presents, Fulk’s cufflinks are mainly vintage. And the majority reflect his love of animals. He and his husband, Kurt Wootton, own four dogs: three retrievers and a wire-haired dachshund. “A lot of our lives revolve around our animals, so it’s not shocking that my personal expression of style is exemplified by having animals close to my body all the time,” says Fulk. The cufflinks he wears the most — which he bought at the Decorative Fair in London while shopping for interior design projects — feature a dog wearing a detailed gold collar. “It appears to be a retriever, which is probably one of the reasons that I am drawn to it,” he says. Fulk says that the use of ivory was “one of those unfortunate moments from our past where we were naive about this world we live in and the preciousness of everything”. He adds: “A reminder of that is never a bad thing, of how we as humans can even unconsciously wreak havoc, and so it makes [the cufflinks] all the more precious.”

3. Horse heads (20th century)

Bought in a shop in Middleburg, Virginia, his horse head cufflinks remind Fulk of growing up riding hunters and jumpers in the state, known for its equine industry, and his “childhood fantasy”. “I didn’t grow up in a gentrified household, but there was that feeling all around of these glorious farms and beautiful colonial houses and this life well lived that always mesmerised me and I wanted to be a part of,” explains Fulk — who wore this pair the only time he attended the Kentucky Derby. The pieces’ gold horse heads, with bridle and bit, are set in resin, which Fulk says gives them “almost a backlit quality”. Each horse has different characteristics, suggesting the pair was handmade.

4. Pewter rabbits (c 1920s)

Fulk appreciates the craftsmanship of his cufflinks and was drawn to his only pair of rabbits by the deep carving of the pewter. “You see every little crevice of the rabbit and it gives it such a personality,” he says. There is “an old-fashioned appeal” to cufflinks for Fulk and a sense of continuation — thinking of who else has worn them and the events to which they were worn. He wore his rabbits with a tuxedo for a Vanity Fair Oscars party. “They’re a fun mixture of high style but also a bit of humour, which tends to be a thread through a lot of [my cufflinks],” he says.

5. Silver dogs (20th century)

It was their standing position, formally posed as if ready to be judged in a show, that attracted Fulk to these “anatomically correct” male dogs. “Finding the full body is more unusual . . . because you often will see either the head or the face of a dog,” he says. He likes their “regal nature” and scale; they are among his larger cufflinks. “They become quite a conversation starter,” he says. But, whether others notice the cufflinks he wears or not, they bring Fulk joy. “You look down and they’re peeking out from the edge of your jacket on your cuff, and I often smile because they’re funny or charming or just handsome to look at,” he says.