South by Northwest

For the interiors of a family home near Silicon Valley, Ken Fulk creates a visual feast inspired by Argentine culture.

- David Nash

Otherworldly" is the best word designer Ken Fulk can come up with to describe a sprawling western hilltop compound he and his intrepid team of designers have envisioned in Woodside, California. Not surprisingly, even with the proper context for time and place whether you've visited the property before or not-it evokes an intense feeling of being transported somewhere far-flung like the terraced southern region of South America, and for good reason.

That tingling excitement of unexpected adventure is exactly the reaction Fulk's clients, Wences and Belle Casares, hope to elicit from those who descend on the 6.7-acre retreat perched high among the redwoods in the San Francisco Peninsula town. "There's a childlike sense of wonder about this place and, frankly, about them too," says the ELLE DECOR A-List designer. Knowing this, it quickly becomes evident that wanderlust has always played a role in the Casareses' lives: In 2004, the couple, accompanied by their young son, Dio, embarked on a three-year sailing trip around the world on their 47-foot catamaran, Simpatica, during which they welcomed their second son, Teo.