I am a maker. My craft is the manifestation of a lifelong journey of creation, imagination and making. From knitting scarves for my teddies as a child to creating a crochet brand at 21, I am passionate about what I do and want to instil that feeling in other makers through my work.

I describe myself as a multidisciplinary maker, an aspiring master of all trades, with a degree in Fashion Communication and interests in graphic design, branding, illustration, photography, physical creation and more.

As a creative, I like to challenge myself by incorporating new techniques and skills into my projects, to research new areas that are fresh and interesting to me. Before my final year of study, I had been researching into digital fashion, the Metaverse and Web3, knowing that I wanted to centre my final project around these topics but not knowing exactly what I wanted to do.

Model wearing a red crocheted dress piece on a sandy dune beach.

Model with black eye make-up wearing a red, crocheted dress and hood piece, blue sky background.

Model wearing a red crocheted dress piece climbing up a sandy dune beach.

Fashion line-up with metallic mannequins and crocheted pieces, background shows faint red tex reading 'coral'.

Fashion line-up with metallic mannequins and crocheted pieces, background shows faint red tex reading 'starlet'.'.

Crocheted dress piece, dark greens, on a metal mannequin.

Mock-up box for New Threads packaging showing a metallic figure.

Mock-up box for New Threads packaging showing a metallic figure in the Leonardo Da Vinci pose.

Mock-up box for New Threads packaging showing a metallic figure, white background.

Before I came back to Bournemouth, I was midway through yet another frantic session of scouring every platform on the internet for free crochet patterns that appealed to me and fit my personal style. And then it hit me – why don’t I create my own brand, my own unique crochet garments and patterns freely available online? The idea to incorporate digital fashion as a way to display these garments and as a general branding asset quickly followed suit, and thus, New Threads was born.

New Threads is a niche ‘create-yourself’ crochet brand that transverses the physical and digital worlds, a microcosm model of a sustainable alternative to the current fashion industry. New Threads was born from the lack of individual, expressive crochet patterns freely available on the market. The brand encourages people to create unique, slow-fashion styles for themselves, regardless of their experience and skill level, harnessing a ‘phygital’ brand model, a physical-digital blended approach to display and market the product – free, unique and stylised crochet patterns and DIY crochet kits.

My aim was to use technology as a means to bring back the art of crochet, to empower and to keep this craft alive in an age where machines replace hand-made products. I used digital fashion software to create digital crochet garments to promote the patterns, in turn creating a sustainable design process with zero material waste, using digital methods to promote and market a physical, consumer-made end product.

Through this project, and my course, I was able to conduct photo shoots on location and in-studio, create my own branded packaging, design an immersive and accessible website, make unique crochet garments and render digital counterparts and so much more. It was an extremely fulfilling project, the result of challenging myself creatively and coming up with an innovative solution to my own personal crochet problems!

This project ultimately gained me industry recognition, being shortlisted for the New Business and Fashion Communications Portfolio Graduate Fashion Foundation Awards, runner-up for the Enterprise Award and highly commended for the Sustainability Award at AUB.

Ticket for an AUB fashion event designed by Maddie Rondel, title reads 'The Future Is Now', white background.

Mock-up booklet showing the AUB Fashion Communication Class of 2024, colourful blue, orange and yellow design.

Mock-up magazine spread for New Threads showing a model wearing red-crocheted outfits on the beach with line-up.

MUA applying make-up to a model wearing sunglasses.

Model wearing a large grey crochet piece outside.

Floral and red velvet dress worn by a model, white background.

Model wearing grey dress being adjusted by a photographer in a car park.

Model wearing a turquoise veil dress, white background.

Model wearing a turquoise veil dress outdoors.

Model wearing a black crocheted bag outdoors.

Other projects I’ve worked on during my final year at AUB include being a BTS Photographer for the 2024 Graduate Fashion Week Talent of Tomorrow Photoshoot, where I had the opportunity to go up to London to work within one of 6 student teams, photographing final collection looks from graduating Fashion Design students around the UK. I also worked as part of the student graphic design and branding teams for AUB’s Graduate Fashion Week presence this year. Through this, I had the exciting opportunity to design the official catwalk ticket for the AUB Fashion Show at GFW, as well as helping to design the AUB stand assets and Class of 2024 Yearbook!

Since graduating and returning to my home in Jersey, I have begun working on a new project in the spirit of New Threads, under the name of my creative portfolio MAD Studios. I have been designing unique crochet pieces inspired by the desire to grow my ‘corporate’ wardrobe while still being able to express my style, from bags made from recycled t-shirt fabric to crocheted up-cycled shirts. While this side-project is still in the creation process, I eventually plan to sell the patterns/design instructions online and possibly some of the garments themselves!

My long-term goal is to break into the fashion industry, hoping to find myself somewhere in the branding/marketing/communications space, whilst also working on my side-business/passion project, MAD Studios.

For any collaborations or enquiries, please get in touch with Maddie via: