Catherine Rowe

Catherine Rowe is a designer based in Arundel, West Sussex. Her designs are largely based on her love of wildlife and nature. Growing up in the South of England, Catherine's artistic development was largely influenced by her appreciation of detailed, intricate design by the likes of William Morris and Josef Frank.

Catherine, who studied illustration at The Cambridge School of Art, has worked as a freelance illustrator, jewellery designer and is now freelance artist. She works with the rare medium scraperboard, using it as an alternative to print making. Represented by Yellow House Art Licensing, Catherine has met with early success in her freelance career with her designs featuring on cards for Museums & Galleries, Pigment Productions, The Art File and others, puzzles for Platinum Puzzles, and ceramics for Roy Kirkham.

Catherine was commissioned by the Isle of Man Post Office to design the 12 days of Christmas as Christmas stamps. Catherine tells us about the designs; ‘’I wanted to bring a strong earthy, Celtic theme into the project, reflecting the Manx history and traditions. The designs all have a small nod towards the Island’s heritage - be it the three armoured legs or Manx tartan. The colour pallet is bold and striking, yet to give that traditional Christmas warmth as well as a natural and earthy feel.”

‘Producing this many images in a set was very challenging for me - to get all of the colours to work well together required a lot of experimenting and trial and error! Luckily I had the pleasure of working alongside the very talented designers at the Isle of Man Post Office who were wonderfully helpful in their infinite stamp-making wisdom. The project has been a wonderfully exciting process and I am thrilled with the results and the thought of my miniature works travelling all around the world. ‘It has been an absolute honour to work on The Twelve Days of Christmas stamp project for the Isle of Man Post Office. It has been great fun and I found it especially interesting working traditional Manx elements into the designs. I hope the public will enjoy the finished product as much as I loved designing it!’

On the designs being turned into cross stitch kits, Catherine tells us: “I am so thrilled these designs will be cross stitch kits - I love the idea of people enjoying their detail and story, and I love the idea of special embellishments of gold thread, beads and sequins. I think the designs are going to look beautiful and alive as a cross stitch!”