Beatrice M. Fulford-Jones
Beatrice M. Fulford-Jones
Title: Principal, Global Interior Design
Experience: 10 years
When Beatrice M. Fulford-Jones, principal of London-based Global Interior Design, takes on a new project, the luxury interior designer has just one goal: “I aim for perfection,” Fulford-Jones said. Tackling the roles of interior designer and project manager, as well as architect, engineer, structural engineer, electrician and whatever else is needed to get a project done, Fulford-Jones has earned a name specializing in envy-inducing residences overseas. Now, the German-born designer, who has lived in Paris and Greece, has gone to work on her first project in the United States, two high-end turnkey condominiums in Somerville, known as Wetherby Place. Fulford-Jones recently sat down with Banker & Tradesman to discuss her latest project.
Q: Why did you decide to take on the Wetherby Place project in Somerville?
A: I chose Somerville because it is a beautiful residential city, offering great amenities … Wetherby Place is perfectly placed. [It’s] sandwiched between Tufts University to the northwest and Harvard University to the southeast, which are each less than a 20-minute walk away. I wanted to use Wetherby Place to showcase a modern European interior combined with my signature high-end turnkey approach, which I understand is rather unusual here in Massachusetts.
Q: How would you define your turnkey approach?
A: The home is 100 percent ready for a new owner to move in. From designer silverware to fresh bed linens, fluffy towels to fine milled soap, everything is brand new and in place from the moment the owner “turns the key” in the front door of his or her new residence. Secondly, the work that has taken place to reach the finished product is holistic and unified around a central design theme – as a turnkey architectural designer, I oversee not just the furnishings and finishes at the very end, but the entire renovation process that leads up to it, all the way from initial demolition of a dated interior, including wall knock-downs and space reconfiguration as needed, to well-placed finishing touches and fine-tuning. Finally, the overall design flows harmoniously between the “envelope” (i.e., the hardware, architectural features, fixtures, space plan, etc.) and the “interiors” (i.e., the combination of lighting design and interior design).
Q: What made you interested in interior design?
A: It just was something that came natural to me. My father was an architect. I took up interior design later on after my [two sons] had grown up and entered college and I had enough time to get into it.
Q: Tell us about your design style.
A: My intention is to create and present a lifestyle. The typical client [of mine] is an extremely busy executive or government official who is appreciative of the convenience, style and elegance that my comprehensive design product offers … But what I do underneath what you see, that is what’s important. For example, there’s a drywell in the garden [at Wetherby Place]. Normally, installers just let the pipe run into the garden, [and] the water just runs openly into the garden on the surface. But I had a drywell made … so all of the water runs into it, even the water from the roof. The drain pipe also runs into it.
Q: You once converted a former French coal barge into a luxurious houseboat on the River Thames in London. What is another memorable projects you’ve completed in the last few years?
A: I was asked by the head of a 14-member family from the Middle East to redesign their newly acquired house in England. The spatial reconfiguration of the property had to comply with strict Islamic customs, including, for example, [a] separate entrance into the kitchen for women, separate dining and sitting rooms for the ladies and personal hygiene showers (known as shatafas) in every bathroom.
Q: Would you like to do more work in the United States in the future?
A: I’ve already been approached with three projects in Massachusetts, so we’ll see how it goes. [Working in] New York would be interesting, and California certainly. … I always had the intention to work here, hence the name, [Global Interior Design]. We want to be global.
Fulford-Jones’s Top Five Activities:
- Trade exhibitions in Europe.
- Real estate development.
- Scuba diving.
- Boot camp fitness training.
- Photography.
