KEN FULK PLATFORM LAUNCH
The Context
When tastemaker and world-renowned interior designer Ken Fulk’s design practice approached MATTE, they were facing the challenge of growing their digital platform beyond just interior design services into the luxury retail space. With a storied reputation for creating incredible worlds with their interior design, they now sought to expand further into curating and producing exclusive high-end product collections for their audience. This required the transformation and build of a digital presence that not only showcased their maximalist design expertise but positioned them as a global luxury lifestyle brand.
The Approach
Through in-depth stakeholder interviews, we uncovered shortcomings with their current website not meeting their internal or external needs. Through those interviews we unearthed an ambition to create a seamless online experience that could showcase both their design practice and growing retail business. By leveraging intentional design strategy and using mental models to appeal to the modern e-commerce shopper, we created moments to engage wth past, present and future of the Ken Fulk experience.
The Outcome
For the opening of their flagship West Hollywood store, we designed and developed a splash page that teased the new aesthetic direction of the digital platform and made users and customers excited to see more. Fitted with custom-illustrated assets, the splash page communicated all of the personality that makes the brand so iconic, presented in an editorial and artistic way.
The final website serves as a polished reflection of the brand’s dual identity. The result has been a reintroduction of the brand with increased visibility, engagement and sales. The new digital platform has helped position Ken Fulk as a forward-thinking luxury lifestyle brand and key player in the space, scalable for future growth, without sacrificing its history and trademark finesse.
DESIGN STRATEGY
How do luxury brands translate their identity into a digital space? MATTE identified four key tenets—crafting meaningful moments (through bespoke insertions and intentional infractions), never shorting on luxury finishes (through high-quality development and microinteraction), maintaining an uncompromising attention to detail (through balance and pixel perfect media), and building immersive brand worlds. Leveraging these principles, along with stakeholder insights, market analysis, and UX / UI auditing and research, we developed a design strategy that seamlessly brought this platform to life.
ART DIRECTION
PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTION AND BESPOKE ILLUSTRATIONS
During the platform rebuild, we further refined the brand’s visual tone by providing art direction for the product photography, as well as developing and producing an illustration style that preserved the brand’s distinct character but elevated it for a new era in their brand story. Given their unique, bold product offering and interiors, we embraced a more minimalist approach to photography and illustration—highlighting craftsmanship and detail without overwhelming the visual experience. This strategic shift maintained the brand’s signature personality from their previous platform while positioning it within a more refined, global luxury space.
STUDIO END OF THE BUSINESS
Despite the brand’s expansion into e-commerce, it was essential to ensure that the interior design studio—their true foundation and legacy—remained at the heart of the experience. Rather than presenting the portfolio in a strictly formal way, we introduced a more playful and exploratory approach that reflects Ken Fulk’s adventurous spirit, and the transformation of the website from a business experience to a brand experience. In the end, the studio portion of the website is felt more as an immersive journey into the world of Ken Fulk, both education and editorial, inviting users to discover the brand’s world organically and intuitively.
E-COMMERCE
For the e-commerce side of the business, we prioritized creating a seamless shopping experience across both desktop and mobile, ensuring it felt intuitive but didn’t sacrifice artistry on a smaller screen. The resulting responsive design maintains the brand’s rich visual storytelling but keeps usability at the forefront. The shop pages, built on clean gridded systems, reflect a cabinet of curiosities that embraces the brand’s playful spirit while providing necessary structure for large amounts of content. The order and restraint provided by these gridded windows, alongside microinteraction hover states and the refined art direction allows the maximalist content to stand out without overwhelming the experience, making exploration both engaging and easy.
% increase in traffic YoY
non-branded KW gain
DIRECTOR, DIGITAL
REI H
DEVELOPMENT
LUCAS VOCOS
UX/UI DESIGNER
TANYA LIZE
MALU MARZAROTTO
DIGITAL MARKETING LEAD
Max Levine