profile
Hazel Cilia is a multi-disciplinary artist who likes to experiment with different media which include stitched textile pieces, handmade books and printmaking.
Driven by a curiosity for language, Hazel’s work often playfully explores different forms of communication, abstracting typography, text and codes from their usual format, along with asemic writing: her work invites the viewer to consider their personal relationship with language. Her solo exhibition focused on different aspects of communication, looking at Braille and Morse code which are sensory by nature but were presented in a visual context, along with the neurons in our brains, our body’s internal communication pathways. By bringing these elements together, Hazel allowed for a different observation and meaning by the viewer.
Hazel has recently turned to printmaking and is currently exploring collagraphy, producing work which simplifies the landscape. She particularly enjoys working with paper and transparency, using various substrates, such as acetate. In these and other works Hazel uses a monotone palette, often black and white with one or two contrasting and vibrant colours.
Hazel began with graphic design and then developed an interest for stitch and textiles which led her to studying City & Guilds with Dawn Thorne at East Berkshire College (formerly Windsor School of Textile Arts); following that she became a member of Amarjeet Nandhra’s Advanced Textile workshop. She has further enhanced her skills and knowledge by taking courses with groups such as Fibre Art Takes Two and Sally Hirst’s yearly concertina collaboration. She has also been part of the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook project and more recently the Open Press Project’s Print Exchange.
Hazel has work is in some private collections and in a collaborative commission piece for the late Queen Elizabeth II, to commemorate the opening of the new Windsor College/East Berkshire College.
qualifications
2010 City and Guilds Level Three Diploma in Design, Craft & Embroidery in Creative Textiles
2008 City and Guilds Level Three Certificate in Design, Craft & Embroidery in Creative Textiles
1988 BTec National Diploma in Design and Display
1988 British Display Society Advanced Level in Art, Design & Display
exhibitions
Hazel exhibited in the 2025 Open Press Print Project, the Sally Hirst Concertina Collaboration (2023, 2024 and 2025) and in the Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Project in 2018 and 2019. She has also exhibited at the Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot, South Hill Park, Bracknell, the Windsor School of Textile Arts and had a solo show in 2015 at the Yehudi Menuhin School.
publications
2025 Open Print Exchange Catalogue
2009 Transparency in Textiles, Dawn Thorne – a sample piece of my work was included in Dawn’s book
memberships
Phoenix Contemporary Textile Group
Embroiderers Guild
contact
Email: gigglybeetle@gmail.com
Instagram: @gigglybeetle