By Bellamy Crawford
By the time he was ten years old, Carlos Marrero knew he wanted to be an artist. “I grew up in a small town in Puerto Rico, the son of conservative Latino parents,” he says. “My mother recognized my talent very early on, but ‘macho’ boys in my town didn’t study art.”
Carlos Marrero. Photo by Xavier R. Marañón, courtesy of Aventura magazine
Despite his father’s hesitation, Marrero’s mother enrolled him in private classes with a Spanish artist, from whom he learned oil painting, pastels and charcoal. His love for art persisted, and after high school, Marrero applied to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was accepted. “I was 19 years old and knew little English, but I convinced my parents to let me go by promising to study graphic design—a more acceptable field for a male student than studio art,” he says. “It wasn’t until my graduation, when I won an award for fashion illustration, that my father found out about my fine art degree, and he lost his mind.”
After graduating, Marrero secured a job designing costumes in Las Vegas, where he worked for five years before a fortunate twist of fate launched his career to new heights. “I wanted new audiences to see my work, so when I had time off, I packed my portfolio and flew to New York to introduce myself to design agents there,” Marrero says. “I soon got a call from an editor at Cosmopolitan magazine explaining that an illustrator had dropped the ball on an assignment. I was asked to do an editorial drawing overnight, so I stopped by the art supply store and whipped out a sketch. The art director was so grateful that she offered me a monthly column.”
Scarf by Carlos Marrero.
Photo by Tyler Molinari
Marrero’s Cosmopolitan gig led to opportunities at InStyle, ELLE, The New York Times and Vogue, among others. But then, as quickly as his career seemed to take off, the birth of the internet derailed it. “An illustration that used to pay $1,000 was now only paying $350,” he says. “I needed a different way to make a living.” So, once more Marrero packed up his portfolio and booked a flight to Paris, where he was introduced to artistic and cultural influences that changed the way he viewed his work. “I was inspired by the artistic scarves and shawls people were wearing, and began experimenting with designs on silk,” he says. It wasn’t long before his successful line of wearable artwork, the Marrero Collection, was born.
In 2020, Marrero traveled to North Carolina to visit his brother and fell in love with Asheville’s free-spirited culture. “Something inside of me changed during the pandemic,” he says. “I craved a more humble existence surrounded by nature. Asheville is a very supportive community for local artists, and I have loved every second of it.” Since his arrival, Marrero has designed multiple scarves for charity fundraising events and is eagerly looking to continue this trend.
Learn more at MarreroCollection.com or on Instagram @camarrero.
