What Clayton Korte does

Clayton Korte is a privately held, full-service architecture and interior design firm founded in 1983 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, with a second office in San Antonio. The firm delivers integrated architectural services, interior design, and brand services — including master planning, feasibility studies, programming, art and décor selection, furniture selection, and procurement — using a studio model where architects and interior designers share the same tools and process from sketch through construction. The firm operates a deliberate "no signature style" philosophy, treating each engagement as a one-off responsive to context, climate, and client.

The firm serves four primary verticals: residential (custom houses and renovations), hospitality (boutique hotels, restaurants, food halls, adaptive reuse), wineries (production facilities, tasting rooms, and caves), and ranches (Hill Country estates). Secondary verticals include mixed-use developments and public/civic spaces. Client work spans Texas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, and the Mojave Desert. Notable enterprise clients include The Historic Pearl in San Antonio (a recurring platform relationship spanning at least six projects including Pullman Market and Stable Hall), New Waterloo (Albert Hotel), Auberge Resorts Collection (Commodore Perry Estate), and the Culinary Institute of America (Savor at Pearl).

The firm is led by principals Paul Clayton (AIA, LEED AP) and Brian Korte (FAIA), with Kristen Brown (AIA, RID) as Partner, Emily Little (FAIA) as Partner Emerita, and approximately 25 professionals across architecture, interiors, communications, and operations. Revenue is generated through professional fees on a project-by-project basis; financial details are not publicly disclosed. The firm has accumulated over 100 design awards from bodies including Architecture MasterPrize, AIA (national, California, Austin, San Antonio, Central Coast), Dezeen, Architizer, WAN, DNA Paris, SARA, ENR Texas & Louisiana, and The Chicago Athenaeum, with extensive editorial coverage in Architectural Digest, The New York Times, Dezeen, Forbes, Vogue, and Garden & Gun.

Name

Clayton Korte

Legal name

Clayton Korte

Website

https://claytonkorte.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Clayton Korte is a privately held Austin-based architecture and interior design firm (founded 1983) delivering full-service design for custom residences, hospitality, wineries, and ranches across the U.S., serving high-net-worth individuals, hospitality operators, and developers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architecture Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (541310), Interior Design Services (54141)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

Keywords

• Architecture services
• Interior design
• Residential architecture
• Hospitality design
• Winery design

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Design Services: The firm generates revenue through professional fees for architectural and interior design services on a project-by-project basis. Services include master planning, feasibility studies, programming, architectural design, interior design, art and décor selection, furniture selection, and procurement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Clayton Korte is a full-service architecture and interior design firm providing integrated services including master planning, feasibility studies, programming, architectural design, interior design, art and décor selection, furniture selection, and procurement. The firm specializes in houses, ranches, wineries, hospitality, mixed-use, and public spaces across Texas, California, and other U.S. regions, taking a no-signature-style approach where each project is treated as a unique one-off.

Product overview

Clayton Korte is a full-service architecture and design firm offering integrated architectural services, interior design, and brand services. The firm was founded in 1983 and operates from offices in Austin and San Antonio, Texas. Their core services include Master Planning, Feasibility, Programming, Interior Design, Art and Décor Selection, Furniture Selection, and Procurement. They specialize in diverse project types including Houses, Ranches, Wineries, Hospitality, Mixed Use, and Public Spaces. The firm takes a fluid approach where architecture and interior design are integrated disciplines rather than separated services, with architects and designers using shared tools like sketches and drawings to ensure architectural intent and interiors cohere.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architectural Services Full-service architectural design including master planning, feasibility studies, programming, and architectural design for residential, commercial, hospitality, winery, ranch, and public space projects.
• Interior Design Interior design services including art and décor selection, furniture selection, and procurement, integrated fluidly with the architectural design process.
• Brand Services Brand services integrated with architectural and interior design to create cohesive projects that reflect client identity.
• Hospitality Design Design of hotels, restaurants, bars, food halls, and adaptive reuse hospitality projects for hospitality operators and developers.
• Winery Design Design of winery facilities including tasting rooms, fermentation buildings, barrel storage caves, crush pads, and equipment barns for vineyard and winery owners in California and Texas.
• Ranch Design

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 awards for design excellence across hospitality, residential, winery, ranch, and public categories since the firm's founding in 1983.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• New WaterloocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew Waterloo is a hospitality development and management company operating the Albert Hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas. Clayton Korte partnered with New Waterloo to design the mixed-use boutique hotel combining four historic buildings with new construction, including retail, food and beverage concepts, and a hotel with restaurant and spa.
• Auberge Resorts CollectioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAuberge Resorts Collection operates the Commodore Perry Estate, a 10-acre luxury resort and private club in Austin, Texas. Clayton Korte collaborated with Auberge Resorts and Moule & Polyzoides and Ken Fulk to reimagine the historic estate as a destination resort.
• Culinary Institute of America (CIA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerClayton Korte designed Savor, the CIA's teaching restaurant at The Historic Pearl in San Antonio, showcasing the development's commitment to cultivating San Antonio's culinary landscape.
• Stream Realty PartnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStream Realty Partners is the owner/developer of the Sixth Street project in Austin, which involves sensitively renovating 29 buildings (approximately 200,000 square feet) in the Historic Sixth Street District.
• The Historic PearlcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Historic Pearl is a mixed-use development in San Antonio, Texas, where Clayton Korte has designed multiple projects including Pullman Market, Stable Hall, Bottling Dept. Food Hall, Savor, Brasserie Mon Chou Chou, and Mezquite. The Pearl is a recurring client and platform for the firm's work.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Olson Kundig: Seattle-based boutique architecture firm renowned for residential and hospitality commissions with a craft- and material-driven design philosophy. Directly comparable on project typologies (custom residences, wineries, boutique hospitality) and brand-led positioning.
• ForrestPerkins: Hospitality-focused architecture and interior design firm serving luxury hotel, restaurant, and resort operators. Highly comparable specialization and client overlap in the boutique hospitality segment where Clayton Korte has won multiple LIV Hospitality Design Awards.
• Aidlin Darling Design: Bay Area architecture firm with a strong portfolio in residential, hospitality, and wine-country projects. Comparable on high-design bespoke practice, multiple AIA awards, and California-centric project base overlapping Clayton Korte's winery work.
• Ken Fulk: San Francisco-based design firm specializing in hospitality and residential interiors, with a recent collaboration with Clayton Korte on the Commodore Perry Estate. Comparable on boutique luxury hospitality positioning and integrated design service model.
• Lake|Flato Architects: San Antonio-based architecture firm with deep Texas roots and comparable portfolio across residential, hospitality, ranch, and adaptive-reuse projects. Both firms share a sustainability ethos, multiple AIA awards, and a similar boutique scale; Lake|Flato is the closest geographically and philosophically.
• Hart Howerton: Planning, architecture, and design firm specializing in hospitality, residential, and resort master planning. Comparable on serving HNW individuals and developers across residential and resort typologies, with similar emphasis on context and place-making.
• Looney & Associates: Interior design firm specializing in hospitality (hotels, resorts, restaurants) with extensive award recognition. Comparable interior-design specialization and a similar luxury-hotel client base; represents direct competition for interior scopes on Clayton Korte hospitality projects.
• Studio Schicketanz: California-based architecture firm with a portfolio spanning custom residential, hospitality, and wine-country projects. Directly comparable regional positioning and project typologies, especially around Central Coast wineries and residences.

Emerging players

• Nemaworkshop: Austin-based architecture firm with residential and hospitality work in the Texas market. Represents an emerging local competitor for boutique residential and small commercial commissions in Austin where Clayton Korte is headquartered.

Broad incumbents

• Page (Page Southerland Page): Large Texas-headquartered architecture and engineering firm with a wide portfolio across healthcare, education, civic, hospitality, and commercial. Overlaps with Clayton Korte on hospitality and civic commissions in Texas but operates at materially larger scale with broader service lines.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/clayton_korte
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/claytonkorte

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Clayton Korte