Denise de Cordova was born in Birkenhead in1957. She trained at the Laird School of Arts and Crafts, Birkenhead (1975–1976) and Brighton Polytechnic (1977–1980). In 1981 she was selected for the Royal College of Art Travel Scholarship to Carrara, Italy, and in 1983 gained an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art. She was the Henry Moore Foundation Fellow in 1984–1985.

De Cordova works in many different media including sculpture and heavily embroidered drawings, to ceramics, which she makes under her nom de plume Amy Bird. She has had 15 solo shows to-date, including three with the Eagle Gallery (2007, 2010 and 2011). Congregation – an installation of her ceramics and sculpture took place in 2013 at Jesus College, Cambridge. She has shown her work with Flowers Gallery and at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition on numerous occasions and has participated in over 60 international group exhibitions internationally. She has collaborated with painter James Fisher on Camouflage – an installation of sculpture and paintings for the London Art Fair 2015.

De Cordova’s work has been commissioned for a number of public institutions including the Norwich Crown Court (1987), Battersea Park Old English Garden (1989) and Jesus College (2015).