Caz Hildebrand

Caz Hildebrand studied Graphic Design at Brighton University and went on to do an MA at the Royal College of Art. She began her career designing books at publishers Penguin and Random House, then worked as a graphic designer and creative director, founding an independent studio designing books, brands and packaging. She has also created her own books on various subjects including pasta and punctuation.
After a career designing to order, Hildebrand has chosen to work as an artist, making objects in three dimensions that resonate with her preoccupations with architecture, archaeology and memory. In 2023 she showed work at the International Glass and Ceramic Art Biennial, Belgium, and the Jingdezhen International Ceramic Art Biennial as well as the County Hall Pottery, and Hypha Studios, both in London.
Caz Hildebrand’s practice is concerned with temporality and the intersection between archaeology, architecture and art. Her work is an attempt to shape time, to rebuild and repair, using a vocabulary of geometric forms to create her own lexicon of transience and longevity. Hildebrand’s works reflect her preoccupations with modernism and Brutalist architecture, manifestations of memory, loss and reparation, all set within the context of the urban landscape.
During World War II, Liverpool was intensively bombed by the Luftwaffe, killing many people and destroying thousands of buildings and homes. After the war, the bomb-damaged rubble was dumped on the beach at Crosby, five miles north of the city. At first one sees indeterminate mounds of bricks and stones, but upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that they have been worn and softened by the tide. The sea has sculpted them, rendering beautiful new forms. These fragments tell stories about the material qualities of clay, concrete, and stone as they gradually revert to grains of sand. "Sea Change" examines these fragments, which carry traces of lost or forgotten histories, and considers what we choose to commemorate and what we consign back to the earth. This display of 'waste' material and newly made pieces questions the idea of 'value', and which stories are deserving of our attention.