Contact

If you have any questions or would like to check availability,
please get in touch at c.mawhinney@live.co.uk

ABOUT

Caitlin Mawhinney is a Yorkshire born and bred designer, working out of her studio in East London. 

After graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a First in (BA) Theatre Design, she was the winner of the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund in 2021, and has continued to gain recognition with a double-nomination for Best Designer at The Stage Debut Awards, finalist for the JMK Awards as well as being a Creative Associate at Jermyn Street Theatre and a Resident Designer at New Diorama Broadgate. 

Her work as a set and costume designer has seen main stages, studios and unconventional spaces across the country. Recent collaborations include National Theatre Public Acts, Hull Truck Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, Soho Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Northern Opera, Southbank Center alongside many others. She loves to design for shows with a social and political motivation, using her designs to walk a line between reality and abstraction. 

Alongside this, Caitlin’s work takes the form of installation design, most notably for the National Trust, and as Associate and Assistant to a number of designers including for the West End, Scottish Opera, Royal Opera House and National Theatre.  Caitlin enjoys facilitating creative workshops for people of all ages and aims to create work experience opportunities for designers in education. 

TESTIMONIALS

‘She is brilliant. She takes little ideas and extrapolates them into things that are tangible, that are real. Her level of accuracy, detail, commitment and communication is wonderful.’
-Dermot Daly | Director

‘Each time she has just blown all of our expectations out of the water. Caitlin breathes so much more life and beauty and poeticism into the world.’
-Anna Holmes | Co-Artistic Director, Northern Rascals

‘She’s a designer who I really admire… Caitlin’s research and preparation and final realisation of the design have all been characterised by excellent attention to detail and a visually impressive style. From initial exploratory conversations with me as Director through to final model stage, Caitlin displays excellent communication skills, is impressive when sharing design ideas with the wider creative and staff teams, always with terrific visual aids such as digital storyboards. There is a confidence, clarity, generosity and calmness that comes with her approach which enables everyone to get on board and excited about the production, as well as a willingness to find creative solutions when budgetary considerations require her to be flexible and rethink.’
-Mark Babych | Artistic Director, Hull Truck Theatre

‘I was blown away by the design she created for the piece. She completely understood the underlying themes and the subtext.’
-Rod Dixon | Ex-Artistic Director, Red Ladder Theatre Company

‘Getting to work with Caitlin, for me, was such a refreshing experience. It’s so special when you get into a room and you get to collaborate with a designer who is so collaborative and present.’
-TD Moyo | Director

‘She is an incredible collaborator who always has the most amazing ideas about how to integrate lighting and set.’
-Catja Hamilton | Lighting Designer

‘Every time there’s a new project, I feel like there are new ideas, fresh ideas coming through. I also think it’s really impressive to see her work across a number of different art forms and scales… which I think is the real definition of a creative brain, being able to do all those things.’
-Alex Ferris | Chief Executive and Creative Director, ARC Stockton

‘It’s not just about the distinct voice that she has aesthetically, it’s about her innovative approach to design. She’s fiercely committed to mitigating against and challenging all kinds of deep-rooted issues that we have right at the heart of our industry.’
-Tess Farley | Director and Producer

‘She’s a collaborator, an innovator, and she really knows how to capture the essence of a show and deliver a really fantastic design very quickly and efficiently.’
-Rachael Halliwell | Writer and Producer