Kentucky’s Kara Hill Turns Stem Cuttings Into Living Art
Plant propagation doesn’t have to be complicated. Kara Hill of Kentucky-based Theory Beyond Design is showing how the earliest stages of plant growth can be both approachable for beginners and stunning to display. Image: Theory Beyond Design
There’s a stage of houseplant care that doesn’t get a ton of limelight. Propagation is the process of creating new plants from existing ones. Instead of buying a new, fully-formed plant in soil, you can get more plants (and more fulfillment) by putting pieces of plants you already have in water.
This is the delicate, unsung, and oftentimes overlooked work of plant enthusiasts. Many use old food jars and hide their stems in various corners and cabinets until they’re big enough to move on to other vessels. But Kara Hill and her husband Andy celebrate this in-between stage with their Lexington, Kentucky-based company, Theory Beyond Design.
Kara was raised in Kentucky by women who could make anything bloom. “My mom and grandmother had these amazing green thumbs, and I grew up around beautiful gardens and watching them tend to them,” she says. “My mom also had a wonderful houseplant collection, but as a child, I always saw plant care as simply a chore.”
It took adulthood and the quiet pleasure of making her home for plants to click. Kara began to appreciate the benefits of keeping even just a few plants in your home. As her plant curiosity grew, she did what many of us do when we want to know more: she Googled herself into a rabbit hole that spilled straight into the world of water propagation — that simple magic trick where a clipping grows roots in water.
At first, Kara “used whatever would hold water to try it out. Paper cups, old bottles and jars, you name it,” she says. “After all, my little cutting only needed a few roots before I could transition it into something beautiful and permanent.” But something shifted when Kara realized she didn’t want to rush past the water stage. In fact, she loved it.
“Before too long, I discovered what immense pleasure I experienced watching my cuttings thrive in water and wanted to keep them there for as long as possible,” Kara says. “I embraced the philosophy that the growth process could be beautiful and artistic from stem cutting to maturity. Every step in the growth process can be beautiful.”
Making Propagation Feel Approachable
For many people, propagation sounds intimidating, like something that requires specialized tools or a deep knowledge of botany. Kara sees that hesitation all the time when she meets customers at markets and art shows. (That’s actually where we found Kara — at Porter Flea.)
“So many people mistake the simple process of rooting stem cuttings with hydroponics,” she says. (Side note: Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in nutrient-rich water rather than soil for the whole cycle.) Kara’s approach is the opposite of complicated, and she teaches by showing.
Kara often brings stem cuttings and mature plants with her so people can see the full cycle in person. “It makes me so happy when the realization comes across their face of how easy the process was. ‘Oh, that’s it?!’ Yep, keep the water topped up and clear and enjoy the process of watching the roots grow.”
Kara urges customers to set realistic expectations, though. “One misconception people have is that propagation works for every single plant,” she says. “There are certain plants that take better to rooting in water than others.”
Building a Business Together
For several years, Kara ran Theory Beyond Design largely on her own, building the business steadily and learning as she went. In late 2020, everything accelerated. “I partnered with a larger plant company to dropship my pieces, and I went from a few orders a month to 10 to 20 orders a week with very little time to adapt,” she says. “It was extremely overwhelming at first.”
Enter her husband, Andy, who began handling the cutting process, freeing Kara to focus on the business and design sides. Today, their roles overlap more naturally. “Now that we have gotten more into the groove, we both really share in the creative process in coming up with new designs as well as traveling together to various art shows,” she says. “I’m super grateful that he enjoys being part of Theory Beyond Design with me.”
Rooted in Kentucky
Kentucky has a strong identity shaped by craft traditions that value patience, skill, and pride in the finished product. Kara sees those qualities reflected in her work and what her customers look for.
“Kentucky’s sense of place is deeply tied to industries like bourbon and horses, where patience, craftsmanship, and respect for process matter just as much as the final result,” she says. “That mindset strongly influences our measured, intentional approach to designing because our customers value pieces with a little bit of story and background.”
The company sells primarily online and through events and pop-ups, which keeps them flexible. A brick-and-mortar shop is not off the table, but it’s not the immediate goal either. “For now,” Kara says, “we will just stick to events and our online shop.”
Learning From Plants
Spending so much time caring for plants inevitably teaches patience, but Kara says the lessons go deeper than that. “One thing plant care has taught me about life in general is not to take things so personally,” she says. “We can feel like we’re giving our plants all of the love and care and the perfect fertilizer regimen, but it seems like we can never get it right and must be doing something terribly wrong.”
Sometimes the reality is simpler. “In general, the houseplants we have in this part of the country aren’t native,” she explains. “They’re tropical plants that thrive in warmer, more humid conditions, and we’ve brought them inside our air-conditioned and heated homes to try and keep them alive. Chances are already stacked against you, so if you can find a few plants that decide to stick it out, enjoy it. If not, it really is okay.”
What’s Next for Theory Beyond Design
Looking ahead, Kara is excited about refining and expanding the product line. “For years, we’ve had customers asking for our wall pieces to be magnetic,” Kara says. “Last year, Andy did a lot of testing of how to add magnetic mounting capabilities, and we tried them out at a few markets. They’ve been a hit every time, so we are going to lean heavily into that this year.”
She’s also dreaming of bigger things … literally. “My dream has been to dive into larger sculptural pieces that offer a vertical garden vibe,” Kara says. “I would really like to try that out as well.”
It feels like a natural evolution for a company whose ethos is that growth itself can be beautiful. To Kara, plants are more than something to keep alive. They are worth watching, learning from, and living alongside.
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Zoe Yarborough
Zoe is a StyleBlueprint staff writer, Charlotte native, Washington & Lee graduate, and Nashville transplant of eleven years. She teaches Pilates, helps manage recording artists, and likes to "research" Germantown's food scene.