Catherine Foster is a freelance writer with a specific interest in home design. She has been a regular contributor of articles to leading New Zealand home magazines, including Your Home & Garden, HOME New Zealand and NZ House and Garden.

Although trained as a Costume Designer at the London College of Fashion, Catherine found that single motherhood and a career in the film industry was not the best mix. A return to life in New Zealand opened doors to writing about property and lifestyle in all its various forms and for many years Catherine embraced it as a second career string. Eventually though, a general awareness and interest in the principles of good architecture evolved into a more specific interest about how the application of good design principles can produce outcomes that address specific social needs.

Buying Your First Home; an Essential Kiwi Guide (written in conjunction with Shelley Bridgeman) and now Small House Living and Apartment Living New Zealand are direct responses to the growing unaffordability of housing in New Zealand's larger cities. With her belief in consuming the finite resources of Planet Earth responsibly, she sees the harnessing of architectural design principles to build smaller and smarter homes an obvious step in the right direction. No longer needing to accommodate a family, Catherine now lives happily in an apartment.