Claire Beale LFDIA

Claire is a creative designer, advocate and educator who makes stuff happen. Her aim is to change and engage the wider community in the conversation around design, and create opportunities to showcase the value that design brings to our economic and cultural capital.

Claire is the DIA’s immediate past National President, former DIA Director and Chair of the DIA’s National Advisory Council and a Life Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia. She holds Bachelor degrees in the fields of Textile Design, Fine Arts (Honours) and a post graduate qualification in Tertiary Education.

Over the past 15 years, Claire has held a number of key roles including Design Tasmania’s first Executive Director, Academic and Programs Manager in the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University and Executive and Academic Operations Manager at LCI Melbourne.Her wide-ranging industry experience encompasses strategic and creative leadership, advocacy, governance, curatorial projects & exhibitions, design education, commercial and bespoke design services, trend forecasting, visual merchandising, marketing, product development and retail operations.

Claire’s work explores creative relationships enabled through design projects, with a view to changing the way we think about design leadership, practice, and advocacy.