February is the month of young love and romance to be declared. In light of Valentine’s Day, SLEEK caught up with Berlin’s creative duo Karo Rose and Steffen Grap whose relationship stretches far beyond a true romance. Read our full interview with the power couple and scroll through their sultry beachside story ‘Neptun’ at the Baltic Sea.
SLEEK: How did you meet?
STEFFEN & KARO: To be honest we saw each other the first time on Instagram more than 4 years ago. After not writing for over a year we met randomly at Alexanderplatz (the place to be) in the middle of the night. Shortly after we went out together to parties, drank coffee together and the rest is history.
SLEEK: What qualities do you love about each other?
KARO: I’m just so happy and I think I am the luckiest girl cause I got a boyfriend like Steffen. We trust each other and have grown together since we met and this is what I love. The way we liked each other 3 or 2 years ago is so different to nowadays. These days he is the person with whom I can talk about so many things, who I can annoy for being so unfunny but at the same time be the funniest person ever with. He is the person who gives me the feeling to be loved. I could talk about his qualities for hours but the more I write the more cheesy I feel.
STEFFEN: Karo is my Rose! She’s my first girlfriend, so we share a lot of experiences together. I never met a person before full of love like her! She’s always motivating me, she’s super strong and smart. I feel like we compliment each other very well. Even if I could kill her sometimes, after a few minutes I just wanna hug her again. Right now I wouldn’t have a clue what should I do without her in my life. I’m just happy she’s there.
S: How do you creatively work together?
K & S: Imagine a super chaotic but collectively a well-organized couple. To sum up our answer: we complement one another and it works!
S: How would you describe your brand and creative project (030)?
K & S: (030) was kind of the first step in this direction. While it should have been just a little project it was received very well which motivated us to do more. Now we are planning to launch our first collection for “Champagne Towers” so keep your eyes open and don’t miss it.
S: What has been your biggest collaborative project (or achievements) to date?
K & S: Gucci, baby.
S: What was it like creating ’24 Hour Ace’ for Gucci in Berlin? How did you choose the locations featured?
K & S: We felt super honoured to be a part of this project and wanted to show Berlin’s diverse facets and didn’t choose special places where we wanted to film exactly THIS part. We just drove through the city and filmed each other randomly.
S: How does Berlin inspire your work?
K: Berlin is just inspiring by itself. Not only the cool shabby or lovely romantic places combined with nice people, superb music, weather like sun or even cold storms with thunderstorms- just the possibility of not being afraid to do something is how Berlin inspires our work. I also love the connection to other cities. Nowadays it’s not only Berlin in Berlin it’s every other city and so many different cultures in Berlin which makes it so inspiring.
S: Berlin is inspiring our work in every way! The city is versatile with 1000 of different faces. It’s dirty and still beautiful at the same time. Berlin is just all the time in motion and open space for new inspiration and opportunities.
S: What is the most inspiring location in Berlin that you liked to hang out?
K: When I am alone, the most inspiring and most beautiful location is my lovely garden, especially in spring, summer and during the golden autumns as every little flower, berry and bumblebee makes me euphoric.
S: I don’t really have a favourite place in Berlin for inspiration… It’s more like the small details here and there which make places interesting.
S: What would you love to achieve together this year?
K: We are looking forward to a lot of good things in this year. We are gonna extend our upcoming brand “Champagne Towers” and our own qualities. Also, I will move to Paris for a couple of months and we will plan lots of projects for this.
S: Launching Champagne Towers, working on projects, connecting with people, getting more experience, traveling, Karo is going to Paris, world takeover haha.
Creative Direction: Steffen Grap & Karo Rose
Model & Styling: Karo Rose
Photographer: Steffen Grap