catching up with hilton carter

Hilton Carter dishes on his ties to Houston, his recent book, and his new TV show

Don’t call Hilton Carter a “Plantfluencer.” No stranger to indoor plant enthusiasts, the multi-hyphenate author recently dropped his latest of three collections for Target, is a regular television contributor, and has a soon-to-be-released show on the Magnolia Network. I think his over half-a-million Instagram followers will agree that he’s outgrown “Plantfluencer.” Let’s call him what he is now — a Renaissance Man.

On Friday, April 26, Bree Clarke, owner of The Plant Project, hosted a breezy, courtyard-chic event in honor of the plant stylist extraordinaire. Baltimore-based, Carter is currently on tour to promote the latest of his five books — The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants— and it is delightful. Over 70 attendees enjoyed sips and bites from Fiora’s Bottle Shop while DJ Sage provided a backdrop of soothing music throughout the evening.

To describe Hilton Carter as “magnanimous” is an understatement. For over an hour, Carter strolled around the courtyard to better engage with the audience while sharing amusing and relatable insights into his trials and tribulations of being a successful “plant-parent.” Warmly recognizing multiple fans from his previous book tour, it’s no small wonder that his following is so strong.

The event took place at the Montrose location of Clarke’s store, The Plant Project, A Place Where Community and Plants Grow. It’s a beautifully curated plant shop that brings self-care, inclusion, and a love of plants together in a welcoming environment. Clarke opened her first Plant Project in Dallas during the fall of 2020. A Houston location soon followed in July 2021.

Clarke offers expert advice on plant selection and care, local pick-up and delivery, nationwide shipping, and a variety of hands-on and how-to workshops on everything from repotting and flower arranging to diversity and self-care. She also regularly hosts Plant Pop-Ups in the community and at area farmers markets.

That work earned Clarke Congressional recognition for The Plant Project as the First Black Woman Owned Plant Shop in Texas. Her inclusive lifestyle brand, The Iman Project, focuses on nourishing relationships and building a diverse community through style and design.

I sat with “plant besties” Clarke and Carter post-event to chat about what’s most important to them: “community, giving, and sharing.”

CultureMap: How did this partnership between the two of you come to be?
Both: Joanna [Gaines]!
Bree Clarke: It was at “Silobration” a few years ago. [Magnolia’s annual event in Waco, TX.]
Hilton Carter: She [Joanna] said ‘Hey, there is this girl selling plants in the street!’ I love plant people and decided to roll-up on whoever this person was going to be. I gave her a hug and that was it! For me, in those situations, it’s a kinship between plant lovers, in that sort of sense. Also, an understanding of individuals who look like me. In the space, trying to share that sort of love and support as well. If I was in that situation — there, selling plants — I’d want to see someone there who looks like me.
BC: In Dallas, I opened up the plant shop because you did not see a Black or Brown person at all. I wrote a blog on April 7, 2020, to focus on Black and Brown plant shops. I found “Plant Chica” in Los Angeles and a few others, no one in Texas — nobody in “our” neighborhood.

I like my sons’ being able to see something I wasn’t able to see as a little girl. When Hilton goes up there on The Today Show, it just shows it’s available and attainable for everyone — truly plant joy for everyone. You [Hilton] set the road for me, and now I’m allowed to set the road for other people like me — and that’s what it is.

CM: Do you feel you had an extra boundary as well because you’re a woman?
BC: I look at color more than I look at sex. It’s so important to see someone who looks like [me]. In 2020 everybody came out as a “plant influencer” or “plantfluencer” and all that jazz. A lot of it was trending and hopping on to a trend, “oh, this is cool, or whatnot.” What I’ve seen with Hilton, it’s something that’s innate. I grew up with plants, he grew up with plants — mine is design and plant love.

CM: You do a lot of workshops and plant education. Do you think of these as “safe space” workshops?
BC: I want to educate people more than that. I want people to get in tune with themselves: self-care, plant-care, all being one. Figuring out yourself, going through your seasons — plants are the same: we need to eat, we need water, light, love, to be talked to and whatnot. I teach that part of it — that’s what The Plant Project is. I go to Hilton for the plant education part of it. Taking care of plants is taking care of you.
HC: Plant-care is self-care.

CM: To touch on the new book, I love that it’s organized like a textbook. Was that intentional?
HC: It’s definitely a handbook; it’s formatted to be utilized. Some of my books are more “coffee table books” and are design heavy, leaning more towards pretty pictures and to help you in the process of caring for plants.

For the most part, I think this book, the ultimate goal is for it to be treated more like a book book. I want these books to become dirt and water stained because people are using them. It’s like a cookbook, you’re always going to come back to it. Something people are going to pull out often, which is the reason I wrote it like I did.
CM: I can see this living in the kitchen with the cookbooks for sure. That’s where most people tend to do their propagating.
HC: Yes! Keep it where your sharp shears are!

CM: You mentioned that you have a pilot coming up. Can we talk about that?
HC: You can! I don’t know when it’s coming out, but I can say to be on the lookout for it. It’s a good one. It’ll be on the Magnolia Network, Discovery+ and MAX.

The show is called “The Plant Stylist, with Hilton Carter.” NO! They changed it, it’s called “Planterior with Hilton Carter.”

BC: He hates being called a “Plantfluencer.”
CM: I’ve never heard that term, but I don’t like it either.
HC: It’s just…ugh.
BC: So many people call him that.
HC: Write “Hilton doesn’t like to be called a ‘plantfluencer,’ he actually hates it with a passion.”
CM: I can put that in the article.
HC: Thank you!
CM: “Not one to be mistaken for a ‘plantfluencer,’ Hilton Carter…”
HC: Great!
BC: I think people are recognizing you more now on the styling side.
HC: I would hope! But, yeah, I don’t know when it’s coming out, but soon.

CM: This is your fifth book, any plans for a sixth?
HC: I have a sixth book coming out.
PUBLICIST: Bree has a book coming out.
CM: Do you?!
BC: Yes. It’s called “The Plant Project.”
HC: What’s the release date?
BC: I don’t have a release date. I can’t really say anything except for the name and that it’ll be out in about 8-9 weeks.
CM: Can you give us a theme for the book?
BC: It’s about community, plants, and self-growth. The Iman Project and The Plant Project have always been about self-growth, workshops and creating a space for everyone — no matter your background, race, religion or style. I wanted to share plant growth with self-growth and have different things hand-in-hand while doing those. It’ll have workshops, DIY, not only plants, but flowers as well.
CM: Cut flowers?
BC: Yes, but flower bouquets and things.

CM: Speaking of bouquets: Hilton, in your new handbook, you have a section on propagating entire bouquets. It never occurred to me that plants can be propagated together — that’s really cool.
HC: Awesome! I think you should try it! The goal of the book is to spark some inspiration around not just propagation, but in ways you possibly haven’t done before.

Photo by Michelle Robertson

More than 70 people attended the event.

Run, don’t walk to get your copy of Hilton Carter’s The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants.

gardening hilton carter interview magnolia network plant stylist plantfluencer q&a

good as gold

Boutique Australian furniture brand opens first U.S. studio in Houston

Courtesy of En Gold

The Houston store has the full En Gold line as well as products from other Australian brands.

Say hello to En Gold! Diehard fans of the coveted Australian furniture brand finally have a stateside gallery, right in Houston’s Upper Kirby District (3330 Audley St.). Cool and crisp, the vintage-inspired, handcrafted collections shine a spotlight on the long-forgotten craft of Fossil Stone artistry.

Courtesy of En Gold

The Houston store has the full En Gold line as well as products from other Australian brands.

CultureMap caught up with En Gold founder Steffanie Ball in her new gallery space to talk vintage, Fossil Stone, and how En Gold has revitalized an all-but-extinct pocket industry in Cebu, The Philippines.

What began as a maternity-leave-induced search for quality vintage led to instantly-sold-out Instagram pop-up sales and a lively cult following that demanded more. The vintage Fossil Stone phenomenon drove En Gold founder Steffanie Ball to seek out the original artisans that produced these iconic pieces in the first place. Now, 45 years after making its debut, Fossil Stone furniture is being produced once again — by the same artisans who produced it the first time around. Only this time, the artisans are finally getting their flowers.

En Gold is the only brand in the world producing Fossil Stone furniture, and with their exclusive partnership with the artisans, it’s looking to stay that way. A form of limestone, Fossil Stone is native to the Philippines and contains organic inclusions that give it the appearance and character it’s known for. Quarried by hand, it’s then cut by hand into thin layers before being painstakingly sanded repeatedly until it is applied to a timber frame.

En Gold is all about sustainability, so any potential waste that comes from breakage is turned into a powder, then a putty, before finding new life as a decorative vessel, like the Laguna Vase or becoming a Paradis Mirror frame. “This craft is actually so beautiful because it has minimal wastage,” says Ball.

In 2018, the interior designer, turned industrialist, found herself in somewhat of a “nesting” quandary. “In Australia at the time, [furniture] was either mass-produced flat-pack, or crazy expensive and unattainable — there was nothing in the middle,” says Ball. “I couldn’t find anything interesting that had any kind of character to it, so that’s why I started to look at vintage.”

After more and more of the same pieces continued popping up on the secondhand market, questions about these beautiful stone works arose: “I couldn’t understand it,” she says. “Was it solid stone, was it faux marble? It was really hard for me to get any information about it.” All Ball knew was that she loved it, and kept buying all that came available. “I couldn’t pass them up! It needed a home. It needed to go where it’s appreciated,” she says.

Before long, Ball’s home started to resemble a warehouse. At the behest of a friend, the decision to part ways with some of these pieces had been made. She created an Instagram account to showcase vintage Fossil Stone pieces, and then two collections were dropped per week.

“The whole collection would sell out in three seconds — it was madness,” says Ball. “It grew into this engaged community with two-way communication. Customers would ask if we had more of certain things coming up. I could hear the things that they were looking for and really understand what I needed to be searching for.”

After countless hours of research, and discovering some dodgy European import practices of the 70s and 80s, Ball learned that every piece of Fossil Stone furniture had been made by skilled artisans in the Philippines, then stamped with either “Made in France” or “Made in Italy” once it had been unpacked abroad. Of the 80 Fossil Stone factories operating in Cebu during their heyday, only one remained.

“I found the last standing workshop that was creating furniture [back then]. He was not producing at all, but kind of still there — he said he didn’t know what he was still even holding on for,” says Ball. “Meanwhile, I’m searching all of Australia for this Fossil Stone furniture!”

For Ball, whose mother is Filipino, the discovery was kismet. Imagine the artisan’s surprise to learn that his creations were as popular today as they had been so many decades before. Ball struck an exclusive deal to get the factory operational once more and revitalize the industry, only this time with the craft as the main focus.

“Let’s tell the story about it. Where it comes from, whose hands make it. Let’s shine a light on the artisans who have been creating it this whole time,” she says.

They decided to reproduce three key pieces: the Tierra Petite, Isla Dining Table, and the best-selling Arena Coffee table. “We launched it online and the entire container sold out in one hour.”

Since that time, En Gold has expanded its offerings to include wooden, seagrass, and upholstery collections, but the ethos remains the same: “Always handmade, always traditional in its method. We try to use all natural materials,” says Ball. “All the timbers are native to The Philippines — native mahogany, seagrass, and another light timber called Gmelina.”

Ball is currently working on an iron collection as well. Fans of En Gold flock to the brand for its focus on craftsmanship, as well as the inherent individuality of each piece. Ball enjoys the love that En Gold clients have for the brand.

“When you’re working with handmade products and natural materials, there is an appreciation for the perfectly imperfect….you can see where they [artisans] were sanding,” she says. “When we talk about the fingerprints of our makers, that’s what we mean.”

The brand’s new Upper Kirby outpost will offer the entire En Gold line, as well as other female-owned Aussie favorites for shoppers to explore. Paintings and sculptures by Adele Naidoo, Karv Studio, White on Walls, and Denise Quah will be available for purchase, plus linen bedding by Cultiver. Australian-made skincare brand Gracious Minds will line the shelves along with top-tier Turkish linen bath sheets by En Gold’s luxe self-care sister-brand Yōli. Find dry-brushes next to Tiger’s Eye Gua Sha, essential oil dryer droppers, and hand-poured candles with En Gold’s signature blend of neroli, cedar leaf, and teak wood. A collection of Bordam candles will be on offer as well — everything one needs to tune into the Yōli playlist on Spotify and unwind at home.

En Gold has already opened their doors to fans looking to say hello, and invites fellow creatives, designers, and lovers of thoughtful design to celebrate the opening of their first U.S. gallery space on Friday, April 25 from 6-9 pm.

shopping en gold furniture home-design