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G reg Fourticq has honed a design sense that is spare and archi- tectural, with origins traced to a curriculum vitae as former vice president of retail for Calvin Klein and Donna Karan in New York City and, by another six degrees, traced to Marfa. "My first proj- ect at Calvin Klein was rebranding, just after Calvin had become acquainted with Donald Judd and Chinati," says Fourticq, who returned to Houston five years ago to join his family's private equity business. "The store fixtures were like Judd sculp- tures. He had a specific aesthetic that was very precise, and it made my mind work like that." At Donna Karan, Fourticq helped design clean retail environments that were a bit more prescribed, yet every bit as reductive. As a result of these earlier career stints, Fourticq fell in love with a pared-down River Oaks-area home — one of only four known houses in Houston designed by modern regionalist architect Frank Welch. He had admired it for many years before it went on the market in 2011. He'd just moved to town from NYC. "I had already bought a lot and was making plans to build a house when my broker told me someone wanted the property," he says. "My heart wasn't in it, so I sold it. Three days later, this house became available. I literally jumped up from my desk and ran to my car. I had a contract signed by 10 pm that night." Built in 1982 for interior designer Sue Rowan Pittman, the house embodied Welch's soft modern hallmarks — stone and hardwood floors, a French carved- stone fireplace in the living room, and soaring 20-foot ceilings. In this house, light and space are plentiful. "Coming from New York, where there's always a building next door to block your light, I love all the natural light in here," he says. Pittman commissioned late Texas sculptor Jesús Morales to create a foun- tain sculpture for the backyard pool. "She was just a pretty cool chick," says Fourticq. "It was the first plumbed sculp- ture Morales had ever done. He even came and cleaned it and made some re- pairs himself after I moved in, about a year before he died." G reg Fourticq thinks big. "I gravitate towards large things," he says. "It's not something I really notice I'm doing until I start to move to a new place. My art is big, and my furniture is big. That's one reason this house appeals." At 6,500 square feet, with two stories and soaring ceilings, the house offers the kind of opportunity for negative space that was impossible in New York. "I don't like a lot of stuff, and I like having empty space around objects," he says. "Things can lose their appeal if there's too much going on." There's a Donald Baechler sculpture in front of a large mirror on one side of the dining room … and nothing else. Isolating them in empty space makes them stand out, he says. It helps that he's not an impulse buyer. "I look at things long-term. About 75 per- cent of what's in my house now, I moved here from New York," he says. "I don't get rid of stuff or move things around. Everything is very curated." Much of it was acquired while traveling around the world during his tenure with Donna Karan, including a Chinese chest and scholar, bought in Paris with Karan years ago. "It's all over the board," he says. "I Nymphenburg porcelain from Sloan/Hall and Ted Muehling, NY. Marcel Wanders' One Minute Delft Blue figures from Amsterdam. 86