my name is lily geneva tilton

I have a diploma in Cabinet and Furniture Making from the North Bennet Street School and come from a line of self-taught woodworkers. I grew up with the knowledge of what sawdust smells and tastes like at a young age, and I am inspired by my treasured childhood memories in my father’s shop to continue to explore this medium.

Woodworking represents both the comfort of familiarity and the excitement of the unknown to me. My work marries traditional hand tool techniques with more contemporary forms to create highly decorated yet functional furniture and artwork. I use marquetry, veneer, inlay, and figured woods to recreate shapes that exist in nature or history and bridge them to a modern world.

I have worked at Needham Furniture Makers and held a fellowship at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in June 2023. I am currently a teaching assistant at NBSS for the full-time Cabinet and Furniture Making program. In September 2024 I will start a 9-month residency at the Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft in Columbia, North Carolina.

exhibitions & awards

  • Both my handbag and my rosewood cabinet are on display currently as part of North Bennet Street School’s 2024 Exhibition: Then & Now. The show runs from Friday, May 3 through Saturday, August 10, 2024 and is open to the public.

  • My windsor chair was on display as part of the 2023 Exhibition: Continual Craft that ran at North Bennet Street School in Boston from May 5th through August 23rd of 2023.

  • My side chair was featured within the Reader’s Gallery in issue 303 of Fine Woodworking Magazine.

  • My rosewood cabinet was a finalist in the International Society of Furniture Designers’ 2023 Innovation + Design Awards, a juried competition culminating in a public exhibition at the Art Gallery at Congdon Yards in High Point, North Carolina, which ran from April 5th to April 26th.

  • My rosewood cabinet was included as part of North Bennet Street School’s student display at the 2022 Fine Furnishings Show in Providence, Rhode Island, while my side chair was featured in the show’s Parade of Chairs.

  • My end table was part of the North Bennet Street School 2022 Exhibition, which ran from May 6th through August 26th in Boston, Massachusetts.

education

In 2020 I decided to pursue my woodworking hobby full-time. I applied for and was accepted into the Cabinet and Furniture Making program at North Bennet Street School, the oldest trade school in the country. I began classes in March of 2021 and completed the program in February 2023. My studies covered a wide variety of topics, such as mechanical drafting, hand tool sharpening, wood technology, machine safety and maintenance, traditional joinery, marquetry, CAD, carving, and woodturning.

I also have a double Bachelors of Arts in Economics and Psychology from Colby College.

Pictured in the woodshop 25 years apart - the attitude hasn’t changed.