Kate Mawdsley was born in 1957 in Lancashire, where she spent her childhood. She now lives in a converted barn in East Anglia, with her husband, a successful graphic designer, and her two dogs. Even in the nursery, Kate Mawdsley preferred to play with paper, pencils and paint rather than toys and she maintained her interest in art throughout her education, which culminated with her gaining a BA Hons. degree in Fashion and Textiles. She has recently undertaken a course at Cambridge University on the History of Modern Art, which has inspired many of her more recent art, prints and posters.

After completing her degree, Kate Mawdsley spent the first ten years of her career in the fashion industry. In the early 1990s, she began gradually to move into more illustrative work to create greetings cards, kitchenware and general paper products. Since then, her repertoire and collection have expanded each year and Kate Mawdsley's art, prints and posters can now be seen on products ranging from mugs to cross-stitch, and from fabrics to tableware.