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I S SUE 75 121 02 The late Robert Kime—a British antiques dealer, textile collector/ designer and interior decorator— had a unique eye for creating spaces with a lived-in elegance, establishing his own take on timeless English country-house style. Following his death in August 2022, the sale of his personal collection at Dreweatts in Berkshire, 4–6 October 2023, saw the contents of his London and Provence homes achieve £9.64 million. Lot 411, a 17th-century fragmentary Caucasian dragon carpet which hung on the wall above a staircase at his French property, La Gonette, fetched a respectable £93,950, more than tripling its estimate. Every lot was sold, and many others far exceeded their estimates; the results ‘show the widespread admiration for him as a true aesthete’ said Dreweatts’ head of sale, Joe Robinson, who continued: ‘His talent for adding depth to an interior to create a room was an unparalleled skill and was the impetus behind the competitive bidding from around the world to obtain a piece from one of the leading design figures of his generation.’ His design legacy continues with Orlando Atty, managing director, and head of projects Claire Jackson now at the helm of Robert Kime Ltd, which operates from London and Marlborough, Wiltshire. Atty joined the In 2019, Atty travelled to Japan with Kime and the fashion designer/entrepreneur Tory Burch where they learned about the country’s history and rich culture. Burch and Kime’s friendship first solidified over Kime’s interior design projects at her Normandy home. Their collaborative Nara Collection of fabrics and wallpapers, inspired by the trio’s journey, launched May 2020 and Nara II followed in October 2023. Atty explains: ‘The original Nara designs were heavily influenced by the use of indigo. Robert saw it as a universal colour in Japan. But when we all began working on the new collection, we were keen to utilise some of the other colours that we had found on our journey, also inspired by wonderful Japanese history.’ Burch comments, ‘Robert’s eye for beauty was unmatched, and I was honoured to collaborate with him... He found inspiration everywhere, and I love that he had no rules. We wanted to create fabrics that were beautifully aged and not too precious... “perfectly imperfect”.’ In spring 2024, five of Kime’s original designs were reintroduced and are available as Robert Kime Carpets. Woven on narrow looms in the north of England from British wool, these can be used as runners or sewn together as fitted wall-to-wall or finished carpets at any size, incorporating overall patterns and borders to create complete designs. Naturally, traditional 01 Stars & Stripes rug, Robert Kime Carpets 02 Fabrics from The Nara Collection, Tory Burch x Robert Kime. Inazuma cushion, Hanabi upholstered chair 03 Venice carpet, Robert Kime Carpets 04 Fabrics in Kyoto seen on Kime, Burch and Atty’s 2019 trip to Japan 04 03 company in 2010, and says of his time working closely with Kime: ‘Robert passed on to me a great amount of knowledge and, with it, a great interest in things, too. An example is rugs. Key to a room, rugs have a great history and story with them, alongside “the hand” in their creation. Robert encouraged the team to learn and be enthusiastic about our collection and our antique offerings, which is something that really resonates with me.’ rugs heavily informed the pieces; Tibetan Check is reminiscent of chequered Anatolian tülü rugs, collected by Kime; Stars & Stripes sees the border of a Turkish rug in Kime’s collection expanded into a repeat striped design; Tigris Green is an adaptation of a Kashan rug; Venice is based on a Renaissance Venetian state red carpet; finally Floors is a reinterpretation of the original stair carpet at Floors Castle in the Scottish Borders. www.robertkime.com

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