Mike Totah has a thriving business making stoneware for top restaurants. He originally went the route of the starving artist, selling his work through galleries in San Diego and southern California. A chance conversation with a chef for a local Hyatt restaurant led him, at first reluctantly, toward a high-volume business called The Wheel that focuses on dining establishments. His business grew by word of mouth, and Mike now creates custom stoneware for some of the strongest restaurants and casinos in the country. With a growing enterprise that has now gone global, this surfer and self-declared food lover embraces a simple life and an unexpectedly fruitful career.

Round Table line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

With such a growing interest in artfully prepared food, it only makes sense that those chefs and restaurateurs would want to present their food on artfully made dishes. What led you to focus on this type of client, and what has the response been?

Wow, it was absolutely, 100% by accident! When I first started, I had a gallery. I opened a gallery that I lived in, and I had a studio in the back. And I went to Café Japengo, which was for a long time the Hyatt’s leading national restaurant, revenue-wise. Asian-themed, sushi bar, kind of Asian fusion, Pacific Rim. And I was having lunch in there, and the chef asked me what I did because I guess he was bored. And they were having problems getting stuff from Japan and having it take three or four months to get there, and they were not happy with where they were getting their product. So I made them some samples and ended up working extensively with the general manager, the food and beverage person at the Hyatt, the manager of the restaurants and the chefs, and we just sort of developed an Asian line for the sushi bar and some neat platters for the hot food service. And that was where it started. You know, if he hadn’t asked me that, I have no idea what I would be doing right now!

And I wasn’t that enthralled about it, but this was sort of in the recession of the early ’90s, and selling art was really tough. Not to mention I was just starting out, so the quality of my work wasn’t probably up to snuff. So I wasn’t really that into doing the restaurant stuff, but it kept coming at me because this restaurant was so successful. Over the period of the next five years, I ended up with restaurants all across the nation just from word-of-mouth from this one restaurant. I got a chain of eight restaurants that was based in Chicago, and it was amazing that without any marketing whatsoever — strictly word-of-mouth and chefs moving around — over the next five or six years I just started getting all these other restaurants.

Even at that point I still wasn’t that into it, and I was still searching for the magic thing that I was going to be able to make a living with. Finally, I realized, ‘hey, this is a nice niche.’ There’s a serious need for handmade plates, which I really never would have thought of, so I sort of decided to jump on and really get a little more into it. I hooked up with a marketing company in, I think, the end of 2003. And they were big in Vegas, and they really sort of started pushing the sales nationwide and getting into some bigger casinos. And that has sort of gotten me to where we are today.

Part of the Breakfast Buffet line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Dish from the Pan Asian line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Who are some of your restaurant clients now?

My claim to fame, casino-wise, is the Wynn casino in Vegas — I’ve done a bunch of buffet gear for them, I’ve outfitted their Asian bistro, and we do every plate they use. I don’t even think they use a little white ramekin. Everything in there is from The Wheel. And then when they went ahead and built the Wynn in Macau, we sent three containers of buffet ware to Macau, and I had a stamp made strictly for that order that said ‘Handmade in the U.S.A.’ Sending plates to Asia is pretty funny, if you think about it. So that’s something we’re pretty proud of, selling plates to Asia! And so we’ve been expanding in Vegas — I do a lot of the local Indian casinos, and we’ve really been trying to get more into the banquet area as well.

I sell to Hyatt nationwide — they’re one of my biggest clients. You know, obviously starting with the Hyatt restaurant was a good thing, but we’ve done a breakfast buffet line that they actually photograph and use in all their training materials, which is great. So that’s been a great partnership. We’ve done stuff for MGM, Treasure Island, some of the other big casinos out there.

My other big client is The Cheesecake Factory for their new concept called RockSugar, which is a pan-Asian concept, and that’s been a great partnership. They only have one right now, but I know when the economy gets better, they’re going to start putting those up everywhere. That is a great testament to our durability, because they do more volume than any other restaurant I’ve ever seen. They’re doing like 1300 covers a day between lunch and dinner, and that’s just insane! They have the formula figured out.

Pan Asian line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

RockSugar restaurant interior

Tell me about your background in ceramics and stoneware. Were you creative growing up, and did you study this craft in a formal manner?

Not really formally. My mom is an artist, and she always really promoted any sort of art and drawing and painting. I think my first pottery class was a summer school class in junior high, and I did it all through high school and loved it. On the funny side, I did take ceramics twice in college, and I failed it twice! It was the only class I’ve ever failed in school of any kind. And it wasn’t because I didn’t do the projects — it was my attendance and sort of being a little too social.

So I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and I took a semester off. My mom lived in Maui, so I went there for a summer. And she signed me up for this pottery class, and it really just turned me on. Then I ended up going over to the Big Island and apprenticing with the guy I took the class from for a little while. And basically watching him make a living, I said, ‘Hell, I can do this — if he can do it, I can do it. I just have to go for it.’ So I just went for the trial-and-error model and really no super-formal training. It was more a matter of just doing it.

I came back to San Diego to continue going to school, but when I realized I was going to do this and had the opportunity, I just stopped going to school and set up the gallery and sort of went for it. I definitely had a lot of support to get started. And the first five years were absolutely brutal — in the middle of a recession as well, so that didn’t help. It’s bizarre, because I really resisted doing the restaurant thing — even though I was doing it, I was constantly looking for something else, like the magic product or something. At one point, I had twenty art galleries in San Diego that I was showing at, but when you have stuff on consignment and you’re waiting to see if something sells, it’s a little different.

Breakfast Buffet line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Platter from the Pan Asian line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Describe your process in creating custom stoneware for these clients. Do they come to you with a clear vision, and what sorts of questions do you ask them?

Typically they’ll come to me with ‘well, I need an appetizer plate,’ and ‘I’ve seen this’ or ‘I like that.’ And then we’ll just make samples or try to find something we currently make that fits the mold. And then we try to glaze it so that it works in the restaurant and with the food they’re putting on it, and we kind of customize it that way. I try not to go 100% custom on everything, but if I can take an existing plate and glaze it so it fits in a particular restaurant, then that is a small form of customization. If it’s something where it’s big enough, then we’ll go ahead and design the whole line. But if somebody wants a couple dozen plates, I don’t go too crazy trying to do something that’s totally custom. But if they want a couple hundred or if it’s an ongoing thing, then we’ll go ahead and design something that works for them. If it’s a new restaurant, I’ll get the color board and look at the carpet and the fabrics and what the tabletop looks like and just try to fit it into their theme.

Dish from the Santa Fe line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Platter from the Perspective line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Asian Bistro line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Santa Fe line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

For a client like Snooze, which has a Happy Days-meets-Jetsons sort of look, were you challenged doing that aesthetic compared to your more Asian-inspired or rustic looks?

No, you know Jon [Schlegel, owner of Snooze] was a manager at Café Japengo at the Hyatt, and that’s how we met. And basically, the only customization is the stamp, which is their logo. And we just took their logo and tried to apply part of it onto the plate so it would identify with the restaurant. And I’ve done that with other restaurants with sort of an embossed look where you actually stamp into the clay. With Snooze, it’s just a stencil color — we make a little stencil and apply a color over the base glaze.

Platters for Snooze by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Latte mug for Snooze by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Do you have a favorite look or color palette you love to work with?

Oh, boy, anything new is always my favorite for a couple of months! I’m always looking for new glazes, and some of them are more difficult and have a smaller range of firing and I have more problems. And so aesthetically I think I’m biased, because some of them are a pain in the ass and some of them are easy. I think if I had to pick a favorite it would be the red — it’s actually three glazes. And when you get into stoneware, red is difficult and you don’t see a lot of it. You know, copper does a lot of different things. I can do copper and make it look like a seafoam or turquoise color all day long, but getting it to a really nice red shade is not easy. So that’s kind of a fun one, you get a huge range. And sometimes the red turns red and turquoise — you get a combination, and it’s really organic. And that’s one of my favorite colors just because I’m really turned on by things that are less contrived. I’m not into hand-painting things and decorating that way. I kind of like to get neat glazes that really break and do cool things, and it’s a matter of applying them correctly and firing them correctly to get the effect. I do a lot of pit firing, and you have no control over what’s going to happen. And to me that’s more of a turn-on. You get more neat surprises that way.

Round Table line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Are there other art forms you look at or pastimes you indulge in to inspire you or recharge you creatively?

I surf, and that’s an absolute stress-reliever. I’m totally inspired by the ocean and could never live away from the ocean — I’m addicted to the edge of the continent, I guess. And I’m really inspired by Japanese art, which is typically not contrived. I really appreciate the character of handmade. And when something strange happens, they embrace it rather than calling it a mistake — and that is definitely more where I am turned on.

Bowl from the Santa Fe line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Part of the Harvest line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

I understand your stoneware is quite durable even in high-volume restaurants. Tell me about your materials and techniques that make it so well-suited for commercial use.

Well, it’s stoneware, first of all. If you buy pottery from Mexico or even Asia or all that Italian hand-painted stuff, typically that’s earthenware and it’s not fired as hot. The material is not meant to be fired hotter. It’s lighter in weight, and it definitely is not chip-resistant. In your home, you could probably get away with it, but for commercial use, you want to stay away from earthenware. So I don’t have a crazy clay formula that’s my own. I buy my clay from Laguna Clay Company — it’s one of their commercial clays and is half stoneware, half porcelain. It’s a real tight body, real dense, which means that it’s real smooth. It’s not real granular, and that keeps the chipping down. So when you get something with a heavier grain , a sandier grain, it’s not necessarily less durable but it will chip a lot easier.

Square Coupe line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Amenity line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

Your story of focusing on the restaurant client is an interesting lesson in the value of developing a particular niche. Do you have any advice for those just starting in a creative field?

Oh, god, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but my only advice is do what you love to do, and somehow it will work out. And I’m a perfect example, because I love my lifestyle! I don’t necessarily love making a thousand soy dishes that are all the same, but it does afford me the lifestyle of working outside and being able to work with clay and make art. When I made the choice to do this, I knew that I wasn’t going to be making a lot of money any time soon. I think a lot of art forms are really difficult to turn into money, and there are definitely a lot of starving artists in every field. But I think if you love it and you stick with it, good things will happen and you just have to be ready for the opportunity when it comes up. I chose the lifestyle over the money, and hopefully it will pan out. I think we’re a success story now, but I think down the road we could even do better financially. But, yeah, I would just do what you love to do. And you kind of have to trust, you have to trust in the universe that it will present opportunity to you. If you’re following your heart, I think it will work out.

Mike Totah at his production studio The Wheel

Production work at The Wheel

Mike Totah on the wheel

Where do you see it going from here? Do you have plans or does it evolve more organically?

It’s kind of been evolving more organically. I really have increased my capacity, and if I would have thought of doing the volume that I’m doing now back when I started, I would have laughed. Actually, the first big order I got for the Wynn Hotel, I got a deposit of something like $58,000. I put it in one of my drawers, and I laughed, like ‘I can’t do this order!’ I didn’t cash the check for two or three months — I just sort of sat on it and didn’t even think we could do it. But they gave us enough time where I felt comfortable giving it a shot. And we pulled it off, and, god, we’ve really blown my expectations out of the water in that regard! We’re really pumping out a lot more volume than I ever would have dreamed. I think the first order we did for them was something like 7,000 pieces, so that was pretty wild as a beginning. But now, after we’ve done it a few times, we realize ‘hmm, we can do it, and we can do even more!’

Harvest line by Mike Totah, The Wheel

What are some of your favorite things, whether they impact your work directly or just make you happy?

The simple things for me. You know, a great meal. That’s probably what’s kept me in the game — I get to meet a lot of great chefs and I eat a lot of great food. I eat like a king, really! So I love to eat, I love to surf. I’m pretty easily entertained — I don’t have to go spend a bunch of money to have a good time. And obviously, just the actual getting dirty part of getting in the clay and creating something and feeling productive. When you throw pots all day, you can see what you’ve done and produced immediately, and that’s really gratifying.

Mike Totah

Mike Totah and his wife Dominique

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Happy Thanksgiving! In the place of a new interview this week, I’ve invited all the artists and designers I’ve interviewed, including all our international friends, to join in this American tradition and share what they’re most thankful for. Though I would love to have everyone gathered around the same table and sharing a great meal, this is my way of connecting this little family of artists and designers. I’ve also asked each person what their favorite food is, and it seems they’re nearly as passionate about food as they are about their creative work! Enjoy, and cheers to you all.

A Thanksgiving feast

In general, I am very thankful that in the difficult times of the last year, our wonderful clients have continued to value our work and support us. It is gratifying that good designs with a story to tell have an increasing place of importance in the world. And my favourite food is the giant, New Zealand, green lipped mussel.
- David Trubridge, artist and designer

Thanksgiving has always meant a family turkey hunt (not Butterball for the Flato family!), with plenty of pies and sides to make a meal of the rather “lean” Hill Country turkeys that we usually encounter. Favorite food? The Hill Country turkey!
- Ted Flato of architecture firm Lake|Flato

I’m most thankful for experiencing my granddaughter’s first Thanksgiving. Ophelia is 8 months old, and this is her first visit to NYC. My favorite food: Pomegranate. I have been enjoying adding it to a variety of dishes including salads and entrées. I also love iced pomegranate tea.
- Roberta Freymann, fashion designer

What am I most thankful for? That’s a tough one as I’m thankful for so many things. I guess in this context, I’m thankful for having the incredible luxury of being able to spend my days working on something I love. My favorite food: For main dishes, North Indian. For desserts, anything with chocolate!
- Tim Westergren, founder and CEO of Pandora internet radio

I am thankful for the people around me…my children, my husband, the connections to my family, my friends and my dogs. My favorite food is roasted Brussel sprouts (sorry).
- Lee Rhodes, glassybaby

I am most thankful for my wife. My favorite food is dried fish. And sushi. I like almost all seafood.
- Hiroshi Yoshii, 3D illustrator

I’m so thankful that I have a really, really wonderful life, that I have a beautiful place in the city and I work here 4 or 5 days a week, and I have a country home. I mean, what could be better than that? I have the best of both worlds. And a loving family. My parents are elderly but they’re still alive, and I’m so thankful that they have been able to see me progress nicely. I have a wonderful husband and a loving marriage. I don’t have any children, but my shoes are my babies! My favorite food is pizza — I am a pizza lover my whole life. I could eat pizza everyday and am a pizza connoisseur — I’m always looking for that perfect pizza!
- Bettye Muller, shoe designer (interview coming December 10th!)

I am most thankful for my 2 beautiful daughters. Food is way too important to me to pick one item that I like the best. I really like too many things!
- Donna Gorman, textile designer

I love Thanksgiving turkey with a special stuffing my grandmother made almost a hundred years ago.
- Corky Normart, watercolorist

I am thankful for the fact that we have always been invited to Thanksgiving dinners! Last year for a change, my daughter (who is a junior in high school) prepared a turkey for our family. She picked a kosher recipe online, and it was really good. This year she is going to do it again. Maybe she is starting a new tradition. I am now thankful my daughter loves to cook!

I also really enjoy cooking. Every evening I prepare a 3-dish dinner in less than 25 minutes. Our family’s current favorite is diced chicken stir-fried with seasonal vegetables. This year my son is coming home from freshman year at college for 3 short days, and I plan to indulge him with all his favorite foods!
- Maria Yee, furniture designer

I’m most thankful for being able to continue working for myself, rather than having to work for somebody else. And continue doing what I love to do, especially considering a lot of this happened by accident — or so-called accident! Favorite food? Boy, that’s tough… Sushi is right up there, I love sushi. God, I love all kinds of food — I’m just a food lover!
- Mike Totah, The Wheel, stoneware artist (interview coming December 3!)

I’m thankful for being healthy, having my husband Jonathan as a creative partner, and thankful for any free time I can get. My favorite foods are arugula and parmesan salad, sushi, and bittersweet chocolate.
- Trina Turk, fashion designer

I’m extremely thankful to be doing something I love and that seems to bring people around the world much joy. I have a wonderful wife and 4 year old boy, and I really appreciate having them in my life. Finally, my favorite foods — guilty pleasures: fried chicken and chocolate gelato; pretty healthy: sushi and Caesar salad.
- Dan Storper, founder and CEO of Putumayo World Music

I am thankful for the light, universal love and the breath of life. I hope and I pray that the light that shines in the dark, that darkness cannot comprehend, the unconditional love that sticks closer even when I don’t deserve it, and finally the slow and steady beat of the organ that stays awake even when I’m asleep. I love any food with cooked shrimps and fish.
- Lanre Adefioye, painter

I’m thankful for the building skills that my parents gave me. They taught me that I could make or build what I wanted in life. As a modernist, it’s hard to find simple and affordable well-designed items. Right now, I’m actually building my own mobile 400 square-foot prefab summer home. Modern with lots of glass – just the way I like it.

My favorite food is a nice ribeye with imported Peruvian hot peppers and spicy butter sauce.
- Edgar Blazona, furniture and prefab home designer

What am I most thankful for? I think I am most thankful for the fact that I am able to travel freely between countries. Thanks to that, I was able to meet my husband Ian and have the types of travel experiences that have made our lives so rich. My parents were not able to travel as freely as it is possible now. I appreciate this fact and am sort of making up for lost time by seeing everything there is is to see, and by photographing it all. I also appreciate being able to bring Ian home to Poland. One year we were there over Thanksgiving vacation. We bought a turkey and cooked an American Thanksgiving dinner for my family, complete with cranberries and stuffing, which everyone enjoyed.

As for the food, I think my favorite dish is Potrawka. It is a traditional Polish dish which consists of shredded chicken in a white gravy type sauce served with rice. It’s typical of Polish cuisine — rich, warm and delicious.
- Magda Biernat, photographer

I’m thankful that I’ve been lucky enough to have an interesting and fulfilling life. Japanese food is my favorite.
- Max Osterweis, SUNO, fashion designer

I am thankful for my family and for the talent I was born with. I live to nurture and respect them both. My favorite food is any dosa served at Hampton Chutney (in Amagansett or NYC).
- Maryanne Quinn, felted wool artist

I’m most thankful for having meaningful relationships with friends and family. I’m (almost) most thankful for the gift of gardening, both edible and ornamental. And being able to share this love with others. My favorite food is freshly baked whole grain bread.
- Ron van Dongen, photographer

I am most thankful for the gift of life. I am thankful for the ability to share my talent with a fellow man. I am thankful for the kindness of a fellow man. I am thankful for the love of family. Some of my favorite foods are afang soup and coconut rice, and I am thankful that when I hunger for these tastes of my original homeland, I can get to eat them in America.
- Victor Ekpuk, artist

What am I thankful for? I am thankful that I am living in a place I love, surrounded by people who are filled with hope and brightness, and that every day I learn from them.

My fave food: now that I live in Cambodia, it’s changed — things I can’t get here on a regular basis have taken on great importance ….I would have to say cheese in all it’s forms and flavors is something I can’t live without, that I love, worship, and cherish!
- Elizabeth Keister, Wanderlust, fashion designer

What I am most thankful for? There are so many things, and for every word that I can think of there are ten others. Health is the most important thing. Health of the spirit, body and mind. I am thankful to have been able to grow up in nature, to have been able to be curious and explore, to travel and see the world, to be able to know that there is so much more out there. I am thankful to have a great family and a few great friends and to know that I have been blessed to know all that.

As for food, a simple Mediterranean cuisine with lots of fruits and some great red wine.
- Roberto Dutesco, photographer and filmmaker

I’m thankful to all you wonderful souls who value beauty and expression and pursue them endlessly, and to my readers who keep popping up all over the world! I’m also thankful for my two happy, rambunctious boys who love to keep me on my toes everyday. And that my practical, Taurus husband knows to take a deep breath whenever I start a sentence with ‘I’ve been thinking…’ (which invariably leads to something along the lines of ‘Let’s move to Barcelona!’).

As for food, I love what I call Mediterranean ‘picnic’ food: fresh fruit, cheese, bread, prosciutto, wine, etc. And stuffed grape leaves and paella. And Indian and Moroccan food. And pink champagne! And Asian food of almost any cuisine. And chocolate! Also, here’s a great little treat: spread a soft cheese called Fromager d’Affinois and then the Dalmatia Fig Spread pictured below (the front jar, available at Whole Foods) on top of stoned wheat crackers. It’s like tasting sweet sunshine (calories be damned, obviously).

Love to you all, Kathryn

Dalmatia fig spread (orange label on lid)

Readers, I’d love you to join in and share what you’re thankful for and what your favorite food is!

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Architects David Lake and Ted Flato create smart and solid projects that embody the ‘rancher values’ they cherish. Working as partners in the San Antonio-based firm Lake|Flato since 1984, David and Ted credit their mentor with encouraging timeless designs that are perfectly integrated into the landscape. They look to past practices and current technologies to develop sustainable designs that work with nature, always taking into consideration local design languages, materials and craftsmanship. Though they have won many awards for their work, David and Ted value solutions over fads and collaboration over ego.

Air Barns project by Lake|Flato

It’s got to be so tempting as an architect to build something that stands out and has a look-at-me quality, but your designs are all about integration — with the landscape, with light and air, with the built environment, even with history. How do you get your own ego out of the way and achieve this seamless effect?

I don’t find it very hard. David and I both draw our inspiration from the condition, and every condition is different. And so there’s the site and the constraints of the site, there are the challenges — which in some cases are my favorite situations because the site is flawed and we could actually make a difference and make it even better. Mend it, as we like to say. So it’s always a reaction to a condition, always looking beyond the smaller project at hand to the larger world — a neighbor that’s nearby or the bigger landscape. It’s trying to make projects that fit in and are comfortable where they are and work with the environment.

Chandler Ranch House, design by Lake|Flato

View from Chandler Ranch House, design by Lake|Flato

Cloud 9 residence on lake, design by Lake|Flato

A lot of architects work toward integrating green principles into their designs, but you really take it back to the roots of what were once common sense practices. Can you describe some of these sustainable design elements and how you’re researching these past design and construction techniques?

Well, it begins with working with non-mechanical systems, the way projects or buildings used to be sustainable before we could afford so much energy — prior to air conditioning or heating. And this means considering the immediate challenges of the environment, which is where the sun is and how you keep the sun at bay in some projects or how you invite the sun in to warm an interior space or bring daylighting in. Also enhancing the natural ventilation of a building, to work with prevailing breezes or to keep the colder winds at bay. So it begins with a reaction to immediate environmental conditions that have always existed.

And then it involves layering in new technologies and new systems that make the building an even smarter response to environmental challenges. But it does begin with the real basics, and that’s why it’s always been so integrated. You know, one of the things when we began our practice was when we were doing projects that were in the country where, as we like to say, style took a back seat. The challenge was really how do you make a building that’s really one with the environment, that starts to erase that line between indoors and out. And so those kinds of projects were really how you could make a space that was comfortable even in a hot climate or in a colder climate but still stay connected with the outdoors. So that meant really working with the basics — wind and sun and rain.

We very much believe in looking at earlier regional responses to new places where we’re working. Because that’s often vernacular architecture, and vernacular architecture is architecture where people couldn’t afford to get it wrong. If you blew it and you had a cold winter, you might not make it through that winter! So those buildings have always helped inform us on what some thoughtful responses are to conditions that are still the same. So there’s looking back, and then there’s looking forward and using science and technologies that we now have available to evaluate in a more scientific manner how to keep a building either cool or warm or more energy efficient.

Elm Court residence light and ventilation features, design by Lake|Flato

Natural light in Armstrong Oil and Gas conference room, design by Lake|Flato

You talk about how your designs relate to each local culture as vernacular architecture, and I know a good amount of your work is in Texas and the southwest U.S. To what extent do you think you could understand other regional environments, or do you prefer to stay closer to home?

No, what I love is getting to work in new places with new challenges, and I think we’re very, very good at that. We enjoy getting to work in different climates and places where different materials are available, where skills of local craftsmen are available. That’s what makes our work interesting. For me, that’s what keeps me excited every day — getting new challenges.

Hilltop Arboretum in Louisiana, design by Lake|Flato

Carraro residence in Texas, design by Lake|Flato

Interior gallery in House of Light in Santa Fe, design by Lake|Flato

Central to your design philosophy is something you refer to as ‘rancher’ values — pragmatism, frugality, and using what local resources are available. So when you approach a new project such as the International Center in San Antonio, are you first looking at what’s there already that’s usable and that might inspire your design?

Yes, one of the things about sustainability is being very efficient and thoughtful about whatever cards you’re dealt. One of the most sustainable ways of doing architecture is reusing buildings. So when we’re given the challenge of having an existing building, that’s exactly what we do. What are the real values of that existing building, and how best to leverage it, what to keep and what to open up and what to change and what to recycle. So it’s just an added, interesting problem.

International Center in San Antonio, design by Lake|Flato

To take this rancher values question a step further, I see you’re not afraid to mix some humble materials with more refined ones. Have your clients come to seek you out for this, or is this ever a hard sell?

For the most part now, most people come to us because they know some of the work that we’ve done or just appreciate the overall approach and the philosophy of the firm. But there was certainly a time where we’d start a project with a client and they didn’t anticipate what the building was going to look like. It’s not that it’s a hard sell, it’s about talking about what is the most appropriate way of solving problems and challenges. So sometimes that is using very modest and humble materials, and sometimes it’s rich and beautiful and more expensive things, and you combine them and work with them. It’s a collaborative process — that’s one thing that makes architecture different than fine art. There’s a number of people working together to solve a problem. And so the big part starts with setting up smart goals and aspirations for a project, and everyone agreeing to go in the same direction or agreeing that these are the real challenges we have ahead of us, and then solving those in the smartest way. And then if you start working through that logic, some things end up being surprising.

I remember a client a long time ago, and he said ‘you know, the very first thing I told them was I didn’t want any sheet metal.’ And everyone laughs because, lo and behold, their house has a lot of sheet metal on it! But there was logic for why we ended up there — you know, it’s a very refined metal, and the way it came together it was not in the least bit just plain sheet metal but was flat seamed and beautiful pieces of metal, and it just made sense that it would weather better in the conditions where we had it.

Cloud 9 residence hallway, design by Lake|Flato

Lake Austin house exterior, design by Lake|Flato

I understand your mentor O’Neil Ford posed the question “What will your building look like as a ruin?” Even your Portal San Fernando project, which occupies the site of an old parking lot along San Antonio’s River Walk, looks like it’s been there for ages. What elements do you think draw people to your work in this way or that make it feel like it’s ageless?

I think one is that it does spring from its particular place and partners with the environment, and so that already is something that isn’t trendy but is being thoughtful and logical about the place and celebrating a particular place. We also get a great deal of enjoyment out of using materials that are of a particular place — sometimes they’re materials like limestone that are readily available in the hill country of Texas where we work a lot of times. So it’s a pretty affordable material, it’s a material where we have great craftspeople in the area who can work with that, and it’s an ageless and timeless material that weathers well. So that contrasting with kind of lighter, more industrial materials because they make sense for longer spans or opening up a building to have a bigger connection to the outdoors. It’s a response to a particular place that makes it timeless.

Portal San Fernando in San Antonio, design by Lake|Flato

Fountain in Portal San Fernando project, design by Lake|Flato

Part of Lasater residential project, design by Lake|Flato

Do you have landscape architects on staff or do you partner with other firms?

We partner with other landscape architects, and we’ve been lucky enough to work with a number of really, really talented landscape architects. We never draw a line between landscape architecture and architecture, so it is very much a collaborative process. We’re well aware of our strengths and knowledge, and one of those things is that since we’re lucky to work in a variety of different places, we don’t always know what kind of plants are best. And that’s another great example of the importance of collaboration. And that is a very important part of the way we approach projects — that notion of thinking beyond the walls or the edges of a particular project so that immediately it means that the landscaping must be part of the whole building experience. We begin thinking from the outdoors in. We begin thinking about the outdoor spaces, the spaces between buildings and then finally start to come into the inside and then go backwards. And so that line — there is none. And having really, really smart, brilliant landscape architects that enjoy that kind of collaboration is what we’re always seeking.

Lasater residential project, design by Lake|Flato

Elm Court residence, design by Lake|Flato

H-E-B Science Treehouse, design by Lake|Flato

You do a great job of bringing in natural light, opening up rooms to fresh air, and creating courtyards and walkways that give people a sense of discovery as they move through the property. This is something it seems most architects underestimate the importance of, and I’m wondering if you draw inspiration from other cultures that do this so well, like Mexico, Italy, or Morocco?

Very much, and one of the wonderful things about architecture is that it certainly enhances your traveling experience! It’s rare for me not to be intrigued by practically any town or any place I’m visiting, and I’m looking at them from the things they have to offer and learn from. The streets of Marrakesh had an enormous influence on a project we did in Phoenix for Arizona State University. Another project that was probably one of our more successful buildings that integrated gardens was one where we went with the clients to Japan. We had a very complicated site, and it was a client that knew us pretty well as it was the second project we’d worked with them on. At one point they said ‘well, you know, the Japanese could really understand this borrowed landscape concept.’ So we went on a trip, and my job was to figure out what gardens we’d see. And what was fun was that we came back with a palette of design ideas that we all knew quite well, and we came back with a common language. So we could speak about, ‘well, this space is like Rionji’ — so it was a great way to speak the same language and collaborate with the clients.

And Mexico is right around the corner, and we’re always going there. So, yes, other cultures and other solutions inspire us. But almost all of them are about responding to their particular climate and place and doing it in a really smart way and unadorned fashion.

Murchison residence, design by Lake|Flato

Interior courtyard of Armstrong Oil and Gas, design by Lake|Flato

Great Northwest Library in San Antonio, design by Lake|Flato

Open air rooms at Francis Parker School, design by Lake|Flato

H-E-B Science Treehouse, design by Lake|Flato

I love the features in many of your projects that connect with people emotionally or even spiritually, such as the cutouts that let light into the Texas State Cemetery building and reference the headstones outside. At what point in the design process are these ideas coming to you?

First it’s a big picture design — where do you place buildings and how best to interact with the landscape, and how do they make the overall place a better place. And so the cemetery is a great example of that. That was a lot about placing the buildings strategically, because we had a very, very small program. So it was placing what we call ‘edge’ buildings, editing out the outside world and making the cemetery itself a very special and beautiful place. So rather than just thinking about buildings as things that are supposed to solve programmatic conditions, there’s a bigger story there. They’re supposed to engage the larger landscape and make a greater campus or a better space. So it begins with that big picture.

And then it’s the little details that really make it rich. You know, a lot of these projects take several years; you design them and then you’re always designing the details for practically another year. And you’re thinking about how the materials come together, and always trying to leverage and be smart with what kind of cards we might have been dealt. One of the things on the cemetery project that we noticed were piles of broken up pieces of old headstones that were discarded, and so we incorporated those into the stone walls, and they made the walls a little richer. And in the course of doing that and in the course of thinking about and imagining the place and how you come into the place, the project starts to inform some of the design details. And one of those things in a cemetery is the notion of the headstones out on the ground plane. But at the same time we were designing basically a gallery, and we needed wall space. And so you think, well, you want to bring light in but you also want to have ample wall space to display the exhibits. So the thought was we could bring the light in along the floor, and then we started thinking of the headstones. We were working with these massive stone walls, and we wanted this great sense of shelter and enclosure that contrasted with the more open outside world of the cemetery, so those just start leading back and forth. And there were references and artwork that we’d seen in the past — there were some Robert Wilson prints that we were aware of with little bits of light coming into a darker space.

So all of those things — that’s where a project starts to go from just a lovely idea to a much richer experience. And that’s also what keeps you engaged for another whole year that it takes on a project. It’s always a little bit frustrating for people, because sometimes there’s a feeling of ‘well, wait a minute, I thought we’d finished designing here, and you’ve added this new idea.’ But that’s how those things happen.

Interior of Texas State Cemetery, design by Lake|Flato

Exterior of Texas State Cemetery, design by Lake|Flato

I know you and David studied architecture at different schools, but I’m wondering if there was anything in your backgrounds or in your influences growing up that made working together feel like a good fit?

We’re both from Texas, and we both have enjoyed the landscape in Texas and the challenges of Texas — a place that can be hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and rainy and dry. So we both have a common love of the place. But we also had a love for doing buildings that connect to the landscape, and the landscape is probably as important to us as the buildings. That was always something that both of us have enjoyed in the past.

We also were both very, very interested in sustainability. David went to the University of Texas at Austin, and at that point in the early ’70s there were some great people at UT that were early innovators in sustainability. And the same thing goes for when I went to Stanford — they were doing the same thing. There was a strong engineering department there that was exploring early solar collectors. And then both of us wanting to build smart, simple, practical buildings, and that’s what brought us both to O’Neil Ford, who was kind of the father of ‘gee, that looks great, but how are you going to put a roof on it?’ He was a great counterpoint to a time period where it was all about words and ideas and kind of an intellectual architecture, a postmodern architecture at the time. And both of us were taken more by the notion of solidity, something that had more weight, more depth, more simplicity.

Dunning residence, design by Lake|Flato

Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, design by Lake|Flato

Agudas Achim Synagogue, design by Lake|Flato

I see you’re working on some innovative mixed-use projects such as the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio. Where do you think this type of development is headed, and what most excites you about architecture looking forward?

That’s a great project, and what excites us most about working in cities is doing projects like the Pearl that are inner city developments that make it a richer urban place. For western architecture, that’s absolutely critical. We have cities that have kind of lost their soul in the center of the city, so those kinds of projects are very helpful and lovely to do. It brings back not only activity in the inner city but it actually starts bringing back housing and people and a more pedestrian-friendly environment.

But probably one of the most hopeful things for us is that sustainability is becoming a fad and is popular, and what a neat thing to have be a fad and be popular! To actually create architecture that is responsible and thoughtful and isn’t about the latest shape or something — that it’s got more integrity just couldn’t be better. So that’s very hopeful.

David and I have a great office with a number of very, very talented people. Because it is a different kind of art form — a very collaborative art form — it’s a lot about working with other talented, young architects, and we’re lucky enough to have some of the best. For me, there’s nothing more fun than having someone else have a good idea, and you notice it and you encourage it. And after the buildings are built, having someone else walk up and fetch an award for it.

Mixed-use Pearl Brewery project, design by Lake|Flato

What would be the highest compliment of your designs, and what do you love most about your work?

The highest compliment would be that this project really enhances my day-to-day experience, that I’m delighted every time I walk into this building or place. And from a contractor, someone who builds, it’s great to hear ‘you know, this is a really neat building and I enjoyed making it!’ And you would not normally get that from a builder or contractor!

For me, what I love most now is the collaboration and working with engaging and talented people. And solving problems. What I enjoy most is when we’ve got something that really needs our help, and we get to do it. There’s nothing that I like less than not having a project built — I love putting the effort in, but I don’t enjoy not having it come to fruition!

Ted Flato and David Lake

For information about landscape architects and other partners Lake|Flato has worked with on individual projects, visit the Projects section of their website.

For an even more in-depth look at the designs and approach to each project by Lake|Flato, a wonderful book is available about their work.

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