■ Claire Beale

Claire is the 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 degrees and post graduate qualifications in the fields of Textile Design, Fine Arts and Tertiary Education, which all inform her work an executive manager, designer, advocate and creative who makes stuff happen. 

Over the past 13 years, Claire has held a number of key roles including Design Tasmania’s first Executive Director, and as an Academic and Programs Manager in the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University. Her wide-ranging industry experience encompasses strategic and creative leadership, advocacy, 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. Her aim is to change the conversation around design in the wider community, and create opportunities to showcase the value that design brings to our economic and cultural capital.