Robert Kime: Britain's Esteemed Interior Designer - Excerpts From TMagazine

Kime's Bedroom, London, above his Bloomsbury shop

"...Robert Kime, Britain’s most esteemed interior designer. Past a rickety bridge and ragged hills with sheep grazing on either side, a low golden light streaming through the valley, is his charming, white-painted farmhouse. The property could not be in a more beautiful setting — the picturesque Longsleddale valley near Kendal in the north of England. Appearing untouched by time, with its working sheds and a beautiful barn that Kime converted into his library, the bucolic scene must look much like it did in the 18th century. While Kime lives primarily in London, in an airy apartment above his design shop in Bloomsbury, Docker Nook is his quiet escape, where he idles the days away doing little more than reading by the fire and walking the grounds..."

Robert Kime

Living Room of Docker Nook

 

The Larder (formerly the dinning room) Docker Nook

"Kime is without peer in creating the lived-in, classic English look that eminent figures such as the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Beaufort call on him to create for their homes. Yet this place proves he’s as talented at decorating a humble farmer’s cottage as he is a palace. The interior is quite simple and comfortable, but everything is of great quality. Each room feels like it’s been there forever, for Kime understands the value of leaving alone as much as he changes. Yet the telltale signs of his work abound: loose-gathered lampshades on thin silver candlestick lamps, antique octagonal occasional tables, small cushions in all sorts of vintage linen and Uzbeki fabric and very deep, soft upholstery..."

Kime's Drawing Room in his London Apartment

London

"...Unless you are familiar with Kime’s approach, you would think that the place had been untouched by an interior designer. This might be because he is a dealer first and a decorator second."...

The Sitting Room at Docker Nook

"Kime was born in Hampshire in 1946 and left school at 16 to work as an archeologist in Greece and Israel before studying history at Oxford. Throughout university, he would deal antiques to his fellow students to help fund his studies. After Oxford he went to Sotheby’s and from there to work for Miriam Rothschild, selling pieces for her. “She was more hands-on than a patron,” he says. 'She let me get on with things but loved the fact that all her stuff was recyclable, a lot of Rothschildiana.' Kime admits he never intended to become a decorator. 'It was looked down upon in those days,' he says. 'I figured, ‘I can’t afford to be a decorator, but I’d like to do it,’ so I took Fridays off [to try] and gradually it took over.'..."

The Dining Room in London

London

The Master Bedroom in Docker

Kime's Bedroom London

"But it is his bedroom that ultimately defines what Kime stands for as a designer. In the center of the room is a beautiful antique gilded four-poster bed with chintz curtains, lined with a delicate antique muslin voile. The headboard is covered in an old quilt with a scalloped edge along the top, giving it a homey finish. What is very obvious here is Kime’s unusual and unique talent for making rooms both masculine and delicate; they are never too feminine and never something you have seen before."

A view of Docker Nook

 
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Cited from:
tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/robert-kime-interior-decorator-docker-nook-home 
This blog version is an edited edition from original online article.