Jellyfish Print — Outerwear
M. Mahlouji
Textile, Print & Brand Designer — Perth, WAMaral
Maral
Mahlouji
Ten years taking print‑led streetwear and hand‑crafted textile collections from concept to commercial delivery — across textile design, print development and brand-led ranges.
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About
Two design languages, one process.
I trained as a textile designer in Tehran, then spent a decade building an independent streetwear label from the ground up — designing seasonal ranges, directing shoots, and selling product at events and online. A Master of Design at Curtin sharpened that instinct into method: user research, biophilic design, and slow, craft‑based making.
That range is the point. I can art‑direct a bold, print‑driven graphic tee capsule and hand‑embroider a considered, story‑led piece for exhibition — often in the same week. Currently leading screen‑print production for a Perth apparel manufacturer, so I also know exactly what a design needs to survive contact with a production floor.
10 yrsIndependent label, concept to sale
300+Units sold, single campaign
2Curtin design awards, 2025
Featured Project — Master of Design Capstone
Ember & Bloom
Design for Change Award — Curtin 2025 DBE Emerging Design Award — Curtin 2025 Exhibited, Building 418
A handmade collection built around biophilic design and craft: hand‑drawn motifs of WA native flowers, digitally printed, then finished with hand embroidery and stitching. The work draws on the IKEA effect — inviting the wearer to take part in the making, through take‑home embroidery kits sold alongside the pieces, so the garment carries their own hand as well as mine.
Presented as a full exhibition — hanging textile panels, garment pieces, and process documentation — at Curtin’s Zig Zag GradFest Showcase, where it won both of the School of Design’s 2025 awards.
“Each thread becomes a small release — a way to transform what you feel into something tangible and beautiful.”From the Ember & Bloom embroidery kit
Ten Years, Co‑Founder & Creative Director
Independent Streetwear Label
Full‑range creative direction for a street‑style label: original print and textile motifs, seasonal collection planning, campaign styling and shoot direction, and go‑to‑market — turning a concept into product people actually bought.
300+Tees sold, “Whale” capsule launch
5+Seasonal collections shipped
End‑to‑endConcept → print → production → campaign
Deer Motif — Hooded Capsule
Whale Tail — Colour Block
Art Capsule — Graphic Tees
“Whale” — Campaign, 300+ Sold
How I Design
From research to rack.
01 — Empathise & Research
Trend, market & material
Ongoing trend and competitor research, primary photography, and case‑study analysis keep every range commercially relevant, not just visually interesting.
02 — Ideate & Prototype
Sketch, test, refine
Hand drawing and sketching to develop motifs, then rapid prototyping and material testing before anything reaches a production sheet.
03 — Produce & Deliver
Print floor to final garment
Hands‑on knowledge of screen printing, colour accuracy and fabric behaviour means designs are built to survive real production, on time and on spec.
Beyond the Sketch
Pattern, Print & Construction
Design doesn’t stop at the artwork — I take my own repeat patterns from hand‑drawn motif through to seamless digital layout and fabric printing, then onto the machine to construct the piece myself. That includes basic‑to‑intermediate garment sewing (seaming, panelling, finishing) and hands‑on screen printing: mixing and matching colour, registering multi‑layer prints, and choosing the right print or embroidery technique for a given fabric — knowledge I use daily leading production at Neto Uniforms.
Knowing how a print behaves once it’s cut, pinned and sewn changes how I design it in the first place — pattern placement, seam allowance, and repeat scale are considered from the very first sketch, not fixed afterwards.
Repeat pattern design Fabric printing Screen printing production Machine & hand sewing Garment construction
Design & Craft
- Ladies streetwear range development
- Textile, surface & repeat pattern design
- Seasonal collection planning
- Screen printing & garment decoration
- Pattern making & garment construction
- Machine & hand sewing (basic–intermediate)
- Hand embroidery
Software
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom
- Figma / Canva
- Vizcom
Leadership
- Creative direction
- Production team leadership
- Critical path & timeline management
- Brand & campaign strategy
Education
- Master of Design — Curtin University
- Bachelor of Textile Design — Art University of Tehran
- 2× Curtin Design Awards, 2025