Inside Muttville, the Cage-Free Dog Shelter Designed With Help From Ken Fulk

The carpet is Missoni. That’s what Sherri Franklin, founder and CEO of San Francisco’s Muttville dog rescue, tells me as we walk up a set of stairs with pink zigzag upholstering to the second level of the Adoption Center, one of three overhauled industrial buildings in the nonprofit’s recently renovated headquarters. If designer carpet is the most atypical shelter feature I’ve noticed so far on my visit, a round light that looks suspiciously like an Astro Lighting Eclipse wall sconce also catches my eye. Later, I notice the same sconces decorating the main-level room where the dogs roam, play, and sleep freely, near a few fixtures that either are Constance Guisset’s Vertigo pendant lamps for Petite Friture or, again, are incredibly sufficient dupes.

To be clear, the Missoni carpet isn’t in perfect condition. It actually looks well-trodden, either from its short so-far life at Muttville, or from one prior. "We got every bit of furniture donated," says Sherri, who operated the senior dog shelter out of her own home from 2007 until 2011, when it moved to its first official cage-free location. Though her oversize frames, patterned pants, and accent scarf, all in a similar ochre that accents her beige sweater and booties, tip me off that expressive style is probably a value of hers, that’s not why there’s so much capital D-decor here. Much of it came from the warehouse of Sherri’s good friend, interior designer Ken Fulk, whose team contributed (pro bono) to furnishing the three-building complex, which was renovated by California firm Tannerhect Architecture.

Beyond possibly being first and foremost a favor for his friend, Fulk’s involvement with Muttville’s overhaul is not such a surprising addition to his résumé. The interior designer’s love for animals (and dogs specifically) is a well-established part of his brand, which extends from celebrity home, hotel, and restaurant decorating to his own home decor lines. (A recent New York Times profile said it best: "What Won’t This Decorator Do?")

Depending on your proximity to niche news about design or pets, or both, you’ll know that an established firm like Tannerhect stepping in for the architecture is in keeping with the times. There’s a long history of designers dabbling in so-called "pet-tecture," and it’s only grown in recent years as our wider cultural obsession (and subsequent spending) around our pets grows. Where design-y dog houses, beds, and bowls are by now established territory, the "barkitecture boom" has more recently extended throughout our homes, from fine-art pet portraits and pottery to mini pet rooms (thank you TikTok) and at-home pet spas (cue: the rise of dog grooming YouTube content). It’s also trickled out beyond them in the form of luxe "canine kindergartens" and doggie daycares, and, interestingly, some of the most historically bleak sectors of animal architecture: pet hospitals and shelters. In Fulk’s celebrity-designer echelon, Kelly Wearstler recently designed a vet clinic in Ontario that channels a millennial-branded healthcare start-up—or The Wing for dogs.