Interview with tile designers Rock Paper Build

Interview with tile designers Rock Paper Build

The design process behind Clay Imports’ new tile with Rock Paper Build

By Clay Imports

This summer we had the privilege of hosting the creative minds of Rock Paper Build at our artist residency in San Miguel de Allende.This wonderful experience gave us a new tile collection we are sure is going to be a customer favorite immediately. We had the opportunity to talk to the husband-wife team about their creative process, how being in a different country influenced their design decisions and how to feel less stressed while working.

Rock paper build

Building Rock Paper Build

Some years ago, Davey McEathron and Rebecca Holliday bought a small lot in Austin’s Eastside to design and build their personal house and an ADU. Davey, who runs an architecture firm (Davey McEathron Architecture) took on the role of architect, and Rebecca took on the role of General Contractor - and they collaborated on everything in between. Shortly after starting construction, they purchased the neighbor’s lot with the goal of designing and building another house and an ADU to sell as a way to help fund their personal house. But that year was 2020; the global pandemic forced them to reimagine their schedule, materials and budget. One of the main outcomes was that they ended up self-performing much of the welding, carpentry, landscaping and fine-tuning of the projects to save on costs, as well as to just keep the projects moving forward. Through this, they decided to turn this experience into a design-build company, Rock Paper Build.

Rock Paper Build and Clay Imports

The relationship between Rock Paper Build (RPB) and Clay Imports started 8 years ago, back when Davey used Clay Imports tiles for various projects at Davey McEathron Architecture: We  used many of their products, so at some point, we were looking for new patterns and new options and we like designing so we just approached Clay Imports and were like “hey, can we start to design some of our own tiles?” And so we just started designing our own tiles and we've probably done about four… five or six tiles with Clay Imports thus far.”

Rebecca recalls her favorite project with our tiles: was when we built the office for Davey McEathron Architecture. Given that the office is a testament to our aesthetic, we did custom designs and worked with you guys to do two custom cement tiles: one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen backsplash. We receive so many compliments on those tiles - they’ve even landed in a couple clients’ projects after being seen.

Their work is remarkable, and the tiles we have done together are marvelous, so it was a no- brainer to invite them to our Clay SMA Studio to develop a new line of tiles.

Rock Paper Build
It always feels like a family working with Clay Imports - Davey McEathron

Diseñado en México

Rebecca quickly realized that, while her design work for individual projects and clients was very helpful but creating a tile collection for the masses presented different challenges: I think the biggest difference is that, when we're designing, we're coming strictly from a design perspective: We need to find one person to buy our house, not, you know, thousands of people to buy a product and so I think having that perspective has been really helpful and interesting.

Davey appreciates having collaborative work while designing:you start to draw something and you get so focused on it and you get so involved in that little thing, it's hard to see the bigger picture. So sometimes, having someone say “Hey, you know what? There's a lot of negative space on this tile that you've designed so far, maybe we need to incorporate something into this other area to sort of fill it out a little bit” and then you can step back and be like “Oh yeah I can see that now”.

Rock Paper Build

During their stay in Mexico, Davey and Rebecca started off with three different pattern designs: “We came up with a few patterns with very linear designs and as we collaborated, those designs morphed into something slightly different [...] and now when we are approaching the end of the week, we've got a really great selection of different types of tiles from floors to exterior facades. And the last thing that we've kind of come up with is a pool waterline tile, which I'm really excited to explore.”

Rock Paper Build
I think it's going to be a really great collection that you can use and apply throughout your home, from facade to pool, which is really exciting - Rebecca Holiday


Davey told us a little more about the inspiration behind the final product: “The inspiration that we have for this tile line has been kind of a 1960s, 1970s pop culture, a little bit British Invasion, a little bit Portuguese tile. These kinds of simple design diagrams that can interconnect with each other. Very simple line drawings that we're exploring with simple colors and just to have a tile that's graphic in nature but not necessarily geometric: it's a little more natural, it's a little more flowy: something that we haven't really seen in the market.

Both designers appreciate a product that could have multiple layouts and combinations; giving the final customer the design decision that best works for their space: “I think coming up with something that could translate well to a floor design, how those interconnect, coming up with something that's a little bit more symmetrical, you know: people's brains break a little bit when you give them too many options but when you give them one tile that they can arrange in different ways, or interweave with another pattern - you know, give the designer something to play with, I think that is kind of something that your client base is really looking for.

Rock Paper Build
Rock Paper Build
Rock Paper Build
We just started sketching and drawing and talking about ideas and looking at things that Clay Imports was looking to do with their tile line and figuring out ways that we can incorporate into that - Davey McEathron

Handmade tiles

Rebecca and Davey got involved not only in the drawing table of our Clay SMA Studio, they also got their hands dirty, quite literally: “ I had seen a few videos that Clay Imports had posted [and] I'm like “Oh wow, that's great, that's so cool, they're so fast” and then being in front of it and doing it I was just like “My God! This is a completely different experience”.

But Davey recognized the dynamic duo’s different design process while creating this tile collection., especially in the tile planning phase:Rebecca is really good at ideating and ideating really fast. [...] When I'm creating a tile that's interfacing within itself, maybe where it's creating a dynamic pattern, I like to draw that on the computer so that I can start to stack all the pieces together and see how they look together, while Rebecca can just pick up a piece of chalk, draw on a tile, draw on a second tile and have the idea sort of like done in like 10 minutes and I'm an hour later I'm still like “Uh, I don't know if it works or not”.

Rock Paper Build
Designing in Austin Texas, where we're not really in the same location where the clay is coming out of the ground and we're not in the same location where the guy with the clay under his fingernails is working it's a lot different and so it's a lot more interesting to be in this situation and I think that my favorite part thus far has been being absorbed and immersed into the into the culture here. - Davey McEathron
Rock Paper Build
Without a doubt, there's no question that Davey is better at making physical tiles. I do not have the patience or dexterity to, you know, really create a fine tuned product that way so Davey is the winner. - Rebecca Holiday

Reframing the workframe

Rebecca explains how being involved in the making process can change the perspective of your work and how you approach materials when recommending products to customers from a design-build perspective: “I think, you know, saying something's handmade is one thing but really experiencing the process, start to finish, of that product being handmade it's been really impactful for me and I think not only the appreciation but for how you use that and I think how as a builder, explaining that to your client that this is a really special thing that's in this home”.

“Being an architect and a builder gives you a different perspective on the way that you design homes because you have to make sure it all works, and that the installer can install it right. Sometimes designers, if they're not used to building, they'll design something that maybe is hard to assemble and put together, so this just adds another layer to that equation”. By getting a deeper understanding of the materials you work with, can improve the success of your project, as Davey says.

Rock Paper Build
Also, living in Mexico for a week can teach you to slow down and enjoy your work: “I'm really looking forward to going back into Austin and trying to wind down a little bit cause we work 12-hour days pretty regularly, so I'm trying to see if we can incorporate maybe a little bit more of the ‘slowed-down’ lifestyle into our own”.
Rock Paper Build
This has been a really amazing experience, it's been really well orchestrated, really well planned out, it's been collaborative, you guys have been so gracious hosting us here. I feel like we've really been like immersed in your space and I feel, we felt so comfortable here from the jump and I think it's just been a really amazing experience - Rebecca Holiday

We loved having Rebecca and Davey join us for the week and we are sure this experience will influence their future work. If you want to know more about them, you can follow Rock Paper Build and Davey McEathron Architecture on Instagram. You can find the collection they’ve made here and you can learn more about their Mexican experience by reading this article. And remember, if you have any questions or require more information, reach out to us at contact@clayimports.com.
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