Print designer Katie Kime has launched the latest in her cities toile collection: Atlanta. Kime, who lived here for a few years after attending Duke University, launched her eponymous brand in Atlanta 10 years ago and wanted to add it to the growing list of cities she’s immortalized in toile.
“I loved toile growing up, I think a lot of Southern girls do,” she says. “Five or six years ago, I thought, What if I start doing cities that I love?” She started with Austin, where she now lives, and then moved on to Nashville, Charleston, New Orleans, and more, with over 16 cities, the majority of which are in the South. Atlanta launched at the end of September. “It’s kind of a fun full circle moment,” she says.
Atlantan Mary-Cathryn Kolb, the founder of Brrr , collaborated on curating the scenes, filling in the gaps that Kime might have forgotten or misremembered over the years. “With all our toiles we find a local person on the ground to help choose [the scenes] so that it’s super authentic to the city,” she says. The Atlanta toile highlights iconic places like the Varsity, the city skyline, Zoo Atlanta, and more. Kime particularly loves the image of a girl walking a bulldog down Peachtree Street—a nod to the Georgia Bulldogs.
Katie Kime
The Atlanta toile is offered in several colors including a crisp navy and white, a gold and hot pink, and a peach and navy, a nice nod to the state’s moniker and a color she says traditionally represents the South. Fans can get the toile print in two wallpaper types, peel-and-stick and traditional, as well as on an assortment of home goods like ice buckets and tea towels. There are printed pajama sets to choose from as well.
Kime was in town recently, and on her agenda was a stop at Gail K Fabrics. “I’m thrilled it’s still around,” she says. “That’s the original place where I would buy fabric and have custom dresses made. It’s where I learned about garments and the sewing world.”
Kime’s iteration is not the first Atlanta toile; local artist Shanequa Gay debuted a toile-based exhibit at the Hammonds House Museum in 2019 as a tribute to the West End. “Lit Without Sherman: A Love Letter to the West End” was a site-specific installation featuring Gay’s electric and saturated toile wallpaper that featured scenes and people from the neighborhood.
Kime’s toile print is now available at katiekime.com.
