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Ken Fulk’s 7 Lighting Design Essentials

The AD100 designer shares his secrets
A Ken Fulkdesigned home in Mexico featuring a handmade chandelier by Alex Randall.
A Ken Fulk–designed home in Mexico featuring a handmade chandelier by Alex Randall.Douglas Friedman

“It can kill or make a project.” What, exactly, was AD100 designer Ken Fulk referring to when he made that statement? The answer, of course, is lighting, which should come as no surprise to others in the design trade. No matter how much time you spend getting the flow of a space just right, finding the perfect furnishings, and topping it off with eye-catching finishes, if the lighting is too clinical, or too dim, the project just won’t feel right.

So when Fulk joined AD features director Sam Cochran over Zoom yesterday to talk all things lighting for the latest installment of AD PRO’s Expert Eye talk series, there was plenty of ground to cover. From revealing some of his secret sources to discussing the approaches he takes to lighting everything from a closet to a sprawling lobby, Fulk generously shared his well-honed tricks. Here are some of the practical takeaways.

Human-scale fixtures

One type of space that pops up again and again in Fulk’s portfolio is a grand, vertically oriented room. “This is not an easy space to light,” he says, referring to the very tall living room of his own home in San Francisco. “We have a lot of human-scale light around the perimeters of the room.” In other words, there’s an abundance of table lamps and other decorative fixtures that provide a subtle and natural glow throughout the space.

That’s a trick that Fulk returns to often in his projects, including with hospitality spaces. “When you have voluminous spaces, how do you create human-scale lighting so that everything doesn’t feel like an office building? You want drama, you want sex appeal,” he says. Smaller fixtures can help punctuate a massive space with moments of intrigue, and also will make that room feel a little bit more intimate in scale.

A vintage brass piece in one of Fulk’s projects.

Douglas Friedman

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Fulk’s modus operandi when it comes to lighting is to know when to pump the breaks. “By inclination we tend to want to overdo it,” he says. “For me, you really don’t want too much overhead.” Indeed, that topic came up frequently in the talk. “If I were left to my own devices, there probably wouldn’t be a ceiling can in any project we do,” he continues. “I hate a ceiling that looks like Swiss cheese.”

If you look through Fulk’s projects, you’ll see overhead lighting used sparingly. Of course, there are beautiful fixtures sprinkled throughout, but only when necessary. Otherwise, luminaries are more subtly tucked into nooks and crannies—out of sight, unless they add an important decorative flourish.

Vintage everywhere

Vintage lighting fixtures are a win-win for Fulk—they are fun and funky, but also good for the earth. “There’s so much great stuff out there,” he says. “It’s a wonderful way to be green, to reuse lighting.” A midcentury Danish pendant light shines bright in his own West Coast kitchen, while a Lake Tahoe project for a client is chock-full of one-of-a-kind pieces, including a vintage Sciolari glass chandelier and a brass pendant from Coup D'Etat.

Customizable fixtures

Fulk talked about his own collaboration with Urban Electric, a lighting company based in Charleston, South Carolina. For Legacy Records, a restaurant and bar in New York, Fulk worked with Urban Electric on a series of fixtures, including a ceiling pendant featuring a special green color he had created for the project. “There’s a lot of wonderful opportunities to customize fixtures, and they’ll work with you on that,” he explains.

Artisanal touches

The designer has a series of artisans in his rolodex who he calls upon to create statement fixtures in certain projects. For instance, a house in Mexico featured in AD has a number of pieces made by British artist Alex Randall. “We really wanted something that felt handcrafted,” he says. “Something that was dramatic that wasn’t like a crystal chandelier.”

The bathroom in Fulk’s San Francisco residence.

Douglas Friedman

Hardworking task lighting

While his overall lighting approach is to not overwhelm, Fulk makes clear that task-oriented spaces like kitchens, bathrooms, and closets require a different strategy. “These are our work spaces,” he says. “You’re not going to have a happy client if they can’t really use these spaces that are meant to be highly functional.” He makes sure such rooms have sufficient task lighting, sometimes including subtle but effective systems like lights installed within cabinets and on shelves to further brighten a space.

Shimmering surfaces

Finally, Fulk explains that lighting is not just about sconces, floor lamps, and chandeliers. “I often think about surfaces and how they will reflect light,” he says. Whether it’s an allover paint color with a glossy sheen, a bright white marble, or a mirrored wall, these surfaces can serve to enhance a scheme—no electrical wiring required.

The kitchen in the Mexican project features another statement fixture and subtly integrated task lighting.

Douglas Friedman