Marea Hildebrand (1989) is a Zurich based ceramic artist and director of the international education program“School of Commons” – a program dedicated to the study and development of peer learning in the arts and beyond. She holds a BA in Art Education with a focus on design and an MA in Transdisciplinarity Studies from Zurich University of the Arts. Marea started her career in painting and textile.

Marea Hildebrand’s creations embody a sense of roughness, harmony, and simplicity. She is drawing inspiration from nature, Japanese and Korean ceramic art as well as the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi. Influenced by the elegant, humble aesthetics of these traditions, she embraces imperfections and the beauty of transience in her work, creating pieces with a serene and contemplative essence. She is particularly interested in creating tactile surfaces reminiscent of textile or wood carving techniques. She works solely with the technique of coil building and often uses gres or local clay, finishing with slip glaze.

Marea Hildebrand have opted for the coil-building technique due to its distinct and direct connection with the material. This method involves prolonged periods of waiting, often spanning hours or even days, until the clay attains the necessary stability for further work. This temporal progression not only structures the creative process but also shapes the flow of Marea Hildebrand day, creating what she like to refer to as 'clay time.' The slender base, sweeping contours and deliberate imperfections of my forms establish a reassuring and robust presence within the space.