HI! I’m Katie and I run my Crochet Brand alongside my Mum, Annie.  The brand has pivoted a lot since it first started but the heart of it is still the same- Fun, colourful, hand crocheted pieces, embracing an old craft and taking a new twist on it!

The brand was originally launched at the British Fashion Councils Estethica after finishing my MA at Central Saint Martins. I had a passion for Knitwear since 6th form and had specialised in it at University. My craft was shaped a lot by working for Knitwear Designer Mark Fast from my 2nd year onwards.  When launching my brand I fell into being a sustainable designer by accident, as I was upcycling and using surplus- but this soon became a core ethos and a really important issue to me as a designer. I was very lucky to have Orsola De Castro as a Mentor and she really guided me and inspired me to want my designs to campion this positive change Fashion could have, and in 2016 I won the Selfridges Bright New Things Award.

My designs have been stocked in luxury stores worldwide and featured on the pages of global fashion and craft publications such as Vogue Dazed and Confused, AnOther, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Stylebubble, Mollie Makes, Inside Crochet, Selvedge Magazine, and Simply Crochet.  In 2017 I decided to pivot the brand and launch her Make-It-Yourself Collection, with a new #sofasnotsweatshops mantra, which puts the task of constructing the garment in the hands of the customer, joining in with the love of the make and making luxury fashion accessible!

I felt alienated from my pieces, the desire to keep all my making UK based to control my supply chain made prices extremely high, this teamed with wholesale mark-up made a single piece become a small fortune. I wanted to keep the making local so I thought what was more local than homemade! I LOVE the make and I wanted to share this experience with as many people that wanted to join in with me and that’s where the idea to turn the brand into a MIY label came from.

The brand has always focused on sustainable practice embracing my Granny's vision of making something beautiful from nothing and consciously addressing issues of over-consumerism. I have always wanted to create wearable, artisanal collections that are big on colour and texture. But more than just creating beautiful garments, the brand creates playful experiences that encourage and champion social and environmental change. By running and participating in a wide range of workshops and events we want people to interact and engage with the brand, sharing our skills and knowledge on textile crafts and sustainable Fashion.

I have been very lucky to have pieces featured in The V&A’s Fashioned from Nature Exhibiton and the Sustainable Thinking Exhibition held at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, as well as being a Judge on Channel 4’s Kirsties Handmade Christmas. PLUS I wrote a whole book dedicated to my LOVE of the Granny Square called Hip to be Square!

Come join me in my love of colourful craft and enter our world where you can make something amazing for yourself, consciously crafted by you!