Harpeth Hall alumna channels creative energy and curiosity into ‘Bounce’

With a name like “Bounce,” the wallpaper in the newly renovated Harpeth Hall dining hall can’t help but jump off the walls and grab a visitor’s attention. The design, with lively geometric patterns in hues of greens and blues, is the original artwork of Harpeth Hall alumna Kelly Diehl ‘05 and is the showcase addition to a refreshed dining hall space that made its debut to start the 2022-2023 school year.

Ms. Diehl has made a name for herself in the art and design community through her business, New Hat Projects. She and company co-founder Elizabeth Wiliams began working together in 2016 out of a shared passion for “creating environments that both pay homage to traditional decorative forms and present a fresh vision of contemporary indoor living.” pieces appear everywhere from coffee shops to corporate headquarters throughout Nashville. In fact, if you walk into local businesses including The Continental, Folk restaurant, Jackalope Brewery, Patagonia, and Dress Theory, you will see the one-of-a-kind creations that set the spaces apart with unique character and charm.

Harpeth Hall students feel that special vibe each day as they walk into the dining hall, and “Bounce” adds a wow factor to Harpeth Hall events such as Leadership Dinner. For the school, the wallpaper showcases the talent of Ms. Diehl, a Cindy Crist Award honoree whose artistry was clear when she was a student as part of the Harpeth Hall Dance Company, on the Hallmarks staff, and creating fresh works of art in the studios.

My inspiration for wallpaper design often starts with the idea of a window onto another world,” she said. “Since time in the dining hall is for relaxing with friends or colleagues, I wanted the artwork to strike a balance between calmness and curiosity. In my mind, the composition started as a sun bouncing in and out of the clouds, but then trees and architecture seemed to emerge and join the party. There's rigid geometry and fluttering movement at the same time.

New Hat transforms spaces for brands and designers “who want something they can’t find anywhere else,” the company website says. Ms. Diehl and Ms. Williams build designs from unconventional color palettes, rich textures, and an evolving mix of influences from pre-colonial Peru to 1950s Japan and far beyond to distant solar systems.

“Bounce” is just one example of the custom wallpaper Ms. Diehl has designed. New Hat’s

“I’ll always remember Kelly as one of my intellectual art students — curious, observational, investigative, and a quiet observer of life and the world around her,” Ann Blackburn, a past chair of the visual arts department, remembered in a Hallways article several years ago.

Next time you are on campus, make sure you stop by to explore the inviting dining hall space and enjoy the artistic energy of “Bounce.”