We make other worldly objects using concrete and mineral pigments. Our challenge is capturing the ephemeral nature of human touch with the industrial permanence of concrete. We hand build arrangements of pigmented concrete in our custom molds; it’s a meticulous process that relies heavily on managing viscosity and time.
We want you to feel the richness and warmth of the human touch. Our palettes are a flowing continuum of colour, no two pieces are exactly alike, wild like you!
Concrete Cat(2007) is the studio of Shawna and Matt Heide, Hand in hand this pioneering duo broke ground on how far you could push concrete as a medium for art and design, their work has a following and is known and collected globally. Each object is hand made by the pair in their Montreal atelier from materials that are 99% sourced in Canada.
We're excited to share this CBC On Design Series by Sticks & Stones and CBC Arts
Explore the evolution of an idea and the path it takes to becoming an item in your everyday life — but that journey is rarely a straight line.
CBC On Design | This is concrete
What to Expect
Everything that Concrete Cat puts out is made by hand. Here’s a list of things you should expect to see in handmade concrete work.
Every piece is unique
We’re not machines, even the copies we make contain artifacts of the process that happened on the day it was brought into creation.
Shape and texture
We design and fabricate our own molds. Molds change over time, they get better as they age. As a mold ages it allows us to produce more complicated colour and pattern work on an object. For this reason we cherish our molds and treat them with respect, we repair them, every mold is precious. We refine our molds with subtle changes over time. This is the first reason every object is a little bit different from its family.
Voids
Concrete has air entrained withins its matrix, this is part of its nature. Sometimes this air manifests as surface voids. Most voids add character, a fingerprint unique to each piece. We fill surface voids that we deem might limit a piece’s intended functionality. We fill voids if we don’t agree with their character. Sometimes we fill voids in accenting colours to accentuate their beauty. We embrace voids.
Quantum voids
Some voids impart their spirit on a reciprocal sibling. This is a rare occurrence, auspicious and celebrated. A quantum void cannot be forced or requested by a customer.
Blue ghosts
We love blue. Blue is irreplaceable. Blue gets blue on everything. We remove as much blue as possible but we are not exaggerating by saying it gets literally everywhere. Chances are if you look hard enough you will find a faint hint of blue somewhere, 99% chance, you may need a magnifying glass but it's there.
Process artifacts
Concrete Cat’s process to call forth the Oracle pattern is a violent ceremony of chaos. We work blindly in trust. The destructive nature of trying to put a harness on chaos leaves a unique mark on every single thing we make.
Environmental changes
Changes in both temperature and humidity have an affect on colouration, we work with nature.
Dye lots
We mix and catalog all our colour formulas from primary colour mineral pigments. We strive for consistency in our work’s colouration but we can only guarantee exact matches on objects that are made within the same quarterly dye lot.
Time marches
Our concrete objects are subject to the rigors of time. Like all material goods they will age and change as they age.
Repairability
One of the many marvels of concrete is its ability to be repaired an infinite amount of times. If you’d like your Concrete Cat goods to be repaired, refurbished or polished please reach out to us.