Katie Leede - balustradeandbitters.com

An Egyptian Seduction - The Textile Designs of Katie Leede

By Coleen Rider & Holli Thomas Photographs by Coleen Rider

You can almost hear the quick click of high heels on marble. A woman on a mission filled with the kind of fire only a storm of ideas ignites, fifteen minutes to spare and spending each precious one in front of her future - Egyptian wall art at the Metropolitan Museum.

Katie Leede is tall and vivacious. She tells us upon our first meeting how impatient she is, but we can already tell. It's the kind of creative impatience that helps in getting the job done. Her home exudes warmth and radiates color, just like herself.

Leede told us the chronicle of her eponymous fabric line in the fashion of a love story. A design job landed her in New York with generous clients who shared her interest in antique textiles. The clients were willing to tear them apart and use them on furniture and pillows. Focusing on finding the right textile, sourcing documents, these are things that fueled her fervor at the thought of creating her own line.

Popping into the Met every chance she had, Leede became enamored with Egyptian art - the look, the color palette, the designs, "I was very charmed and fascinated by the artisinal freedom of the drawings. They have very natural and organic qualities." She also witnessed how many art students were there entranced with the designs as well, helping her in realizing it's broad appeal.

Dear friend Christopher Farr, renowned carpet designer, encouraged her obsession by proclaiming it was time for her to launch her own textile line and insisting she borrow his very rare Egyptian Paintings book. "Of course, I promptly destroyed it and had to search out another copy," Katie says without an ounce of regret, "I found about 150 ideas in that book!"

The result of this passionate journey is a stunning first collection. Comprised of medium and small prints, Leede has managed the difficult task of creating a cohesive line that encourages mixing without being too matchy. The line has a very painterly feel, even the checks and stripes have a loose quality to them, translating well in both modern and antique filled well-worn settings.