It’s not every day someone admits to going to Greggs, but Kara Rose Marshall is unnaturally unassuming, “I was in Gregg's because I was skint, I had no money,” she tells Hello! Fashion of the location that led to her being scouted at age 18.
It turns out that as chance would have it David Gandy (yes, the actual David Gandy) and his agent from the prestigious Select modelling agency, were in there at the exact same time, “I didn't have a clue who he was, but the girl I was with was like ‘oh my G-d.’”
His agent approached her and what followed from there was 10 years of photoshoots, hard-core hustling to make it in a notoriously cut-throat industry and high profile relationships. (Having been linked to names such as Harry Styles and Dougie Poynter in the past she coolly replies, “I just happened to date boys in bands.” Enough said.)
© David M. BenettA nepo-baby she ain't, it turns out most people who meet Kara expect her to sound ‘posh’ and are perennially surprised by her Yorkshire twang. “I come from a council home, I went to a normal school got bullied to f***, left in year 10 and got no GCSEs… a similar background to Elliot.” Her partner Elliott Pittam, with whom she shares a son, is a tattoo artist and studio owner, “He’s really inspirational because he comes from a normal background. He was living in a van, he moved to London and was pretty much homeless and then just built his career up.”
The modelling industry can be feast or famine, and despite some initial success, it wasn’t exactly lucrative. “I was just flowing through life, like going to these parties and dinners. You know, it had its good days and its really bad days. I just hated castings, literally hated castings… I was never content or happy and had no money.” When Kara became pregnant in 2019 and the pandemic hit, she realised that with her partner unable to continue working she needed to find a solution, “I was freaking out because Elliott's work stopped because, you know, he couldn't tattoo anymore, so I was figuring sh** out, figuring out how to make money and survive with a baby,” she explains.
It was by chance that she saw a ‘tufting’ video online. “I just discovered it on Instagram, and I was like, this is so f****** cool. You can create art with texture and I've just never seen it before. I need to do it.” Tufting is a textile technique that involves 'punching' yarn into fabric canvas using a tufting gun that 'punches' or 'shoots' the yarn through the canvas. The initial piece she made was inspired by the cult-favourite 1997 Gummo movie, “I did the bunny boy from the film.” Her first major client was none other than Jamie Hince and Tuftluck Studio was born.
Kara’s achingly cool-girl aesthetic makes her look like she was plucked off the set of Daisy Jones & The Six, which may explain why the art has a retro nostalgic quality to it, “I've definitely gone down the cowboy western route," says Kara, "I'm really inspired by old western movies and like old Mexico and all that kind of thing. I definitely have an influence of seventies pop culture and I always entwine nude, naked woman and am inspired by seventies porn.”
After selling her first item she was confident enough to start making more, and was commissioned by a few more VIPs, then by MTV, “I did a massive piece for them, it's on the shows when they do the celebrity interviews. They use it on the floor.”
Now her artwork is seen inside some of London’s trendiest hotspots (ultra-chic Mayfair restaurant Socca has one) and in hotels around the world, she's collaborated on a collection with Warehouse and in case you’re wondering.... money is no longer a struggle. (She's been able to finance a home with the earnings.) “My biggest regret is why the f*** did I not do this in my early twenties? Because you just feel so fulfilled and it's such an outlet and it just feels really rewarding to do something you genuinely love.”
What advice would she give people who want to start pursuing their passion as a business? “Don't have the fear, just go for it. You literally have one life and just go for it.”
