Clare Birtwistle
13 // Clare Birtwistle is a freelance designer based in Manchester, UK. She studied Printed Textiles at the Liverpool School of Design and Visual Arts and has had her work licensed by and produced designs for a variety of clients in both the UK and USA. Clare’s portfolio encompasses many areas of design, from greetings cards to wall decor, and her inspiration and influences come from mid- century modern design, vintage children’s books, illustrations and graphics. Clare was originally one half of TC Design, producing design-led greetings cards, and then went on to gain commissions and licences as a freelancer under her own name. For the future, Clare hopes to remain inspired by good design, and to continue to extend her portfolio. She would love to see her images on a wide variety of products, or to develop a range for a client.
Design Hero: Charley Harper
Birthday Spot Triangles
Clare likes to include elements of pattern in her work, like these polkadot fills. Developed as a greeting card for the Risograph.
Get Well
Pills and plasters make fabulous geometric shapes in this stylized design. Simple shapes are an integral part of Clare’s work. She likes to take an image and pare it right down to its basic shape and work on it from there. Developed as a greeting card.
Birthday Balloons
This design was developed as a greeting card. Clare works mainly on the computer but has recently been exploring Risograph printing, as she loves the look and feel of prints.
Thank You Chevron
Clare uses a simple but effective stripe pattern mixed with hand-drawn type.
Happy Birthday Triangles
Risograph-printed greeting card for Fred Aldous Ltd. The colours on a Risograph are limited, so other colours are created by overlaying one on top of the other. Sometimes the prints are slightly offset, which adds to their unique charm.
Wigwam
Developed as an idea influenced by vintage children’s graphics, this design demonstrates how objects can be created using only triangles and circles.
All designs by Clare Birtwistle ©