Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1255943
FASHION DESIGNER TORY BURCH COLLABORATES WITH BRITISH UPPER-CRUST DECORATOR ROBERT KIME ON A NEW COLLECTION OF FABRICS AND WALLPAPERS INSPIRED BY THEIR TRAVELS TO JAPAN. 46 R obert Kime — illustrious decorator and antiquarian to British aristocracy and royals — has teamed with American fashion icon Tory Burch on a new collection for his line of fabrics and wallpapers. The Nara Collection was inspired by a trip Kime and Burch took to Tokyo and Kyoto last spring, in search of antique textiles. Kime's textiles and wallpapers, which have not been available in Texas for some years, is now exclusively at Wells Abbott showroom in Dallas and Houston. Kime and Burch became fast friends and collaborators a few years ago while decorating Burch's Normandy manor house which she shares with her husband, Pierre-Yves Roussel, former CEO of LVMH Fashion Group — and now Burch's CEO. (The house was featured in the March 2020 issue of World of Interiors.) Kime was the perfect choice to imbue the rambling 18th-century manor house; he's decorated celebrated interiors around the globe, including the Duke of Beaufort's Swangrove at Badminton in Gloucestershire. In 2003, Prince Charles enlisted Kime's help converting the Queen's former residence, Clarence House, into a new home for himself and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The prince, who penned the foreword to Kime's 2016 book, wrote that he creates rooms that are so welcoming and comforting that it's "hard to drag yourself away." Kime's love of antiques and Burch's fashion penchant form the basis for The Nara Collection, which leans heavily on indigo hues found throughout Japan's cultural heritage. The duo explored shrines and temples to learn the country's cultural heritage and shopped out-of-the-way nooks to bring back exquisite antique textiles as inspiration for the collection. The collection's 11 designs are made in all- natural cotton, linen, linen voile, and silk. Highlights include Yokazura's cherry blossom, which was sparked from a fragment of antique cotton dating to the Edo period and was traditionally used on Japanese trousers. The butterfl y pattern of Chou evokes reincarnation and was used by Samurai warriors as a symbol of transformation and strength. Oba was inspired by a n antique pair of trousers that Kime found in Kyoto, featuring an oba, or leaf, pattern on indigo cloth. And Tazuna's diagonal lines evoke a decorative rope, or tazuna, attached to the reins of horse during a traditional festival. The Nara Collection, Tory Burch X Robert Kime, to the trade at Wells Abbott, wellsabbott.com. ENDLESS INDIGO Tory Burch and Robert Kime visiting shrines and temples in Kyoto A chair upholstered in Chou, from The Nara Collection. Robert Kime fabric pillow. The Nara Collection Tory Burch fl ying into Kyoto Hanataba is based on a Japanese fabric traditionally used as a lining, or worn under clothes. Rich hues and patterns found in a stack of Japanese textiles Kime fl ips through a book of antique Japanese textiles BY REBECCA SHERMAN