Slate expectations

Meet the family business that’s successfully slated many Houston hotspots

Texans love a local family business success story, even one not entirely homegrown. Forty-four years ago, father-and-son duo Clive and Stuart Rae arrived from South Africa and soon began selling slate roofing tiles to Houston home builders out of their humble shop on West 34th Street. Fresh from that initial success, Thorntree Slate launched their own line of slate flooring and the rest, as they say, is history.

Thorntree may not be a household name, even if they’re, quite literally, in your household. For 20 years and over 60 projects, Thorntree has supplied local real estate developer the Hanover Company with all of their stone surfaces — indoor and out. This includes the new and always bustling Autry Park development.

Additional projects include a number of Houston highlights: The Post Oak Hotel, Georgia James Steakhouse, MF Lobster & Ceviche, the Ismaili Center, The Laura Hotel, and the very new social club Park House.

At a meeting at Thorntree’s Jersey Village headquarters, Stuart Rae tells CultureMap that the mixed-use development along Buffalo Bayou has been a major undertaking.“Autry Park alone (which is thirteen acres), every restaurant, every wall, every unit and amenity…we did 80 units [of product] just for streets. We did that.”

Rae prides himself in that all of the porcelain tile for Thorntree is made with the finest Italian clays, but manufactured right here in America — Clarksville, Tennessee, to be exact.

“They have a huge operation. Twenty-four hours a day—it’s owned by Italians, but it’s run by Americans,” Rae says. “It’s been a great addition. All the Hanover projects, it’s all made in Tennessee. We save a huge carbon footprint [that way]. We can deliver [Italian porcelain] anywhere in the country from a central location and not from Italy. It makes our customer service impeccable — we can fly and be on site for anything.”

The Raes and their incredible line of stones are also on high display at all of the Berg Hospitality restaurants, including the newly launched Turner’s Cut. When asked how Thorntree was able to build that relationship, Rae laughs and really leans into his South African accent to say, “We just lucked upon it!”

“They [the Houston Design Center, where Thorntree keeps a secondary showroom] let us do a park setting outside our showroom. Luckily, one designer found us—she’s involved with [Ben] Berg. All of his projects are our materials.” Rae adds that the designer in question is Berg’s longtime designer Gail McCleese (formerly with Gensler), who helms her design firm Sensitori

“She works exclusively for Berg. We just lucked out that they [Berg Hospitality] decided to embark upon this big growth program, so we have all of our materials on all of their projects,” Rae says.

A major award

Access to these collaborative relationships primed Thorntree for what is an honor for the company and for Houston as well. This year Thorntree earned the award for number one distributor of Italian tile in North America by the distinguished Confindustria Ceramica (the association of Italian ceramics). Eight members of the Thorntree team traveled to Atlanta to accept the award during “Coverings,” the most notable stone exhibition in North America.

“[Winning the award] was so unbeknownst to us. They get to vote on who they believe is the best distributor every year and who really flies the Italian flag and stays true to them [Italy],” Rae says. “Number one distributor for porcelain in 2024, and it’s only once every 10 years that a company can receive this. We are just so proud of being in business for 44 years…48 people. We try to keep it under 50 people — it’s really an accomplishment for such a small company.”

Showcasing Texas designers

Thorntree, with all of their success and accolades, decided that it made sense to create a way to support local design communities within their markets — enter the mosaic competition.

With Houston as their home base, plus a burgeoning showroom in the Dallas Design District and a presence in Austin, Thorntree opened their first competition to those three markets. Reaching out to architecture and design firms, Rae said, “Use these stones and see if you can come up with a design for Houston, Dallas, and Austin.”

Rae continues, “It actually ended up being fantastic! Our team put together a power point presentation showing the 14-step process going into the [porcelain] products. It was just so much fun! We just thought that if we could just get some real designs for these markets and some creative thought, we could really make something.”

Thorntree mosaic competition winners Behold the winning designs.Courtesy of Thorntree

The competition was a success. So many firms participated that it will, according to Rae, “definitely become an annual thing. First place winners get $1,000.00 and second place gets $500.00 in each market.”

As a designer myself, and knowing that winning mosaics will be displayed and produced if purchased, I had to ask—“Do the designers get royalties?”

While these designs are very new and have yet to be purchased by anyone, Rae came through with the answer that I’m sure everyone deems appropriate: “I’d love to pay someone royalties and use these designs.” There we have it!

Without further ado, here are the winners of the Texas design triangle’s Thorntree mosaic design competition:

Houston:

First Place: Marysia Kosacka & Jeff Horning-Rottet Studios
Second Place: Diana Moreno-AV Interiors

Austin:

First Place: Ashlee Owens-(Owens has since parted ways with her affiliated firm)
Second Place: Kate Enriquez-Studio ELES

Dallas:

First Place: Blaire Reed-IA Interior Architects
Second Place: Madelyn Crowl-Boka Powell

Congratulations to all of the deserving winners. We cannot wait to see what the competition produces next.

For those not in “the trade,” it’s important to note that Thorntree is also open to the public and that their Houston headquarters is actually open on Saturdays from 9-1. While it’s unusual for a high design operation to be open on a Saturday, Rae definitely keeps it real with his reasoning—“people work!”

Photo by Brian Kennedy

See Thorntree's products at Turner's Cut.

thorntree slate post oak hotel home-design

they're durable, too

3D-printed Houston housing project cements a more affordable future

Courtesy of Cole Klein Builders

Homes in Zuri Gardens are a hybrid of 3D concrete and traditional wood construction.

Houston is putting itself front-and-center to help make sustainable, affordable housing a reality for 80 lucky homeowners in a scalable housing community that will hopefully catch on nationwide. Recently, developer Cole Klein Builders partnered with HiveASMBLD to pioneer what’s touted as the world’s first large-scale, one-of-a-kind, affordable housing development using 3-D printing technology, merging robotics, design, and sustainability.

Located across from Sterling Aviation High School, near Hobby Airport, Zuri Gardens will offer 80 two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes of approximately 1,360 square feet situated in a park-like setting, including walking trails and a community green space.

Homes in Zuri Gardens will hit the market in early summer of 2026. Final pricing has yet to be determined, but Cole Klein Builders expects it to be in the mid-to-high 200s.

Interestingly, none of the homes will offer garages or driveways, which the developer tells CultureMap will provide a savings of roughly $25,000 - $40,000 per home.

Instead of parking for individual units, 140 parking spaces will be provided. Ideally, this small-town-inspired design will provide opportunities for neighbors to meet, connect, and build community.

Each two-story home is comprised of a ground floor printed by HiveASMBLD, using a proprietary low-carbon cement alternative by Eco Material Technologies that promises to enhance strength and reduce CO2 emissions. The hybrid homes will have a second floor built using engineered wood building products by LP Building Solutions. Overall, the homes are designed to be flood, fire, and possibly even tornado-proof.

The Zuri in Zuri Gardens is the Swahili word for “beautiful,” a choice that is fitting considering that the parks department will be introducing a five acre park to the project — with 3-D printed pavilions and benches — plus, a three acre farm is located right across the street. The Garver Heights area, where Zuri Gardens is located, is in what’s classified as a food desert, which means that access to fresh food is limited. Residents will have access to the farm’s fresh produce, plus opportunities to participate in gardening and nutrition workshops—that’s a win for everyone.

With the novelty of Zuri Gardens, it’s no surprise that the neighborhood already has an 800 person waitlist, but with stringent buyer requirements, it’s unclear how many of those 800 will qualify. Developer Cole Klein Builders created Zuri Gardens in partnership with the Houston Housing Community Development Department, who provided infrastructure reimbursements for the roads, sewer lines, and water lines. In return, CKB agreed to push the purchase prices for the homes as low as possible.

Zuri Gardens also received $1.8 million dollars from the Uptown Tourism Bond, 34 percent of which must be used with minority owned small businesses. Qualified buyers must fit a certain area of median income according to HUD guidelines, and must be owner occupied at all times — so no property investors or short term vacation rentals will be allowed.

“They’re trying to bridge that gap to make sure there is a community for the homebuyers who need it — educators, law enforcement, civil workers, etc.,” Cole Klein Builders’ co-principal Vanessa Cole tells CultureMap. “You have to go through a certification process with the housing department to make sure that your income is in alignment for this community. It has been great, and everyone has been really receptive.”

Cole has also brought insurance underwriters to visit the site and to help drive premiums below regular rates for Houston homeowners since homes in Zuri Gardens are not built to traditional standards — claim risks for one of the 3-D homes are extremely low. Tim Lankau, principal at HiveASMBLD, notes that the 3-D hybrid design allows for a more traditional appearance, while having the benefits of a concrete structure: “That’s where the floodwaters would go, that’s where you can hide when there’s a tornado, and that’s where termites would eat. So you get the advantages of it while having a traditionally-framed second floor.”

It’s important to note that Zuri Gardens is not located in a flood prone area, nor did it flood during Hurricane Harvey — being flood proof is merely a perk of a cement house. The concrete that Eco Material Technologies developed is impervious. The walls are printed into hollow forms, which house rebar, plumbing, and accessible conduits for things like electrical lines and smart house features. Those walls are then filled with a foamcrete product that expands to form a “monolithic concrete wall.”

David McNitt, of Eco Material Technologies, explains that his proprietary concrete is made of PCV, and contains zero Portland cement. Instead, McNitt’s cement is made from coal ash and is 99 percent green (there are a few chemicals added to the ash). Regardless, it’s made from 100 percent waste products.

“This is a product that has really been landfilled before,” says McNitt. “It’s coal ash, and it’ll set within 8-10 minutes. It’s all monolithic, and one continuous pour — it’s literally all one piece.”

Eco Material Technologies’ concrete product is impressively durable. A traditional cinderblock wall will crush at around 800 psi, while this material crushes at about 8,000 psi.

“It’s ten times stronger than a cinderblock wall that can withstand hurricanes,” claims McNitt. “I don’t think you’d even notice a hurricane. It’ll be really quiet inside, too — so you won’t get interrupted during your hurricane party. It’s way over-engineered, it really is.”

The second story is built using weatherproof and eco-friendly products by LP Building Solutions. Their treated, engineered wood products come with a 50 year warranty, and their radiant barrier roof decking product blocks 97% of UV rays, and keeps attic temperatures 30° cooler than traditional building materials. These materials, combined with the concrete first floor, will keep heating and cooling costs low — something the folks at HiveASMBLD refer to as “thermal mass performance.”

Courtesy of Cole Klein Builders

Homes in Zuri Gardens are a hybrid of 3D concrete and traditional wood construction.