Nicholas Tilma is a designer and artist based in Detroit, Michigan. Through experimental and traditional fabrication techniques and by mixing material languages he creates otherworldly furniture, lighting, and objects that combine references to artificial nature and science fiction to address the following questions: How will humans of the future memorialize the natural world when our references are themselves the fake versions of the real thing? How can we acknowledge our collective fear of a dystopian future, while romanticizing its aesthetic?
He received an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2023 and a BFA in Art & Design from the University of Michigan. He has worked as a professional furniture designer at FLOYD and has maintained a personal studio practice since 2015. He has exhibited work in New York City, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Ann Arbor. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture and Community Development and Studio Manager at the Cranbrook Academy of Art Department of Architecture.
For commissions, press, or any other inquiries please email: nttilma@gmail.com
Education
2023 - MFA 3D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art
2015 - BFA Stamps School of Art & Design, Universtiy of Michigan
Experience
2024 - Present - Studio Manager, Cranbrook Academy of Art Department of Architecture
2024 - Present - Adjunct Instructor, University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture and Community Development, Detroit, MI
2015- Present - Principal, Nicholas Tilma Studio, Detroit, MI
2015 - 2021 - Product Designer (Furniture), FLOYD, Detroit, MI
Exhibitions
2024 - 28 Lights, The Hunt Vintage, Los Angeles, CA (Curated by Lieya Dagan and Spenser Atlas)
2023 - Graduate Degree Exhibition, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2022 - Cranbrook Chair Show, First National Building, Detroit, MI
2022 - Hot Stuff, Rabbit Rabbit, New York, NY
2021 - Cranbrook Chair Show, Jack Craig Studio, Detroit, MI
2020 - Super Group, Superhouse, Brooklyn, NY
2020 - Never Normal, Wasserman Projects, Detroit, MI
2019 - ❗❓(In Good Company), Fernando Mastrangelo Studio, Brooklyn, NY (Curated by Rossana Orlandi and Fernando Mastrangelo)
2019 - Works in Progress, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI
2018 - SHAPE: Defining Furniture in Michigan’s Design Legacy, Shinola Flagship Store, Detroit, MI (Curated by I.M. Weiss)
2018 - Return of the Living Dudd, Jonald Dudd, Brooklyn, NY (Collaboration with Evan Bruetsch)
2017 - Designer Putt Putt, Detroit Design Festival, Detroit, MI (Collaboration with Stephen Busscher)
Press
Habitat Lounger (2023) is featured in the July/August 2024 issue of Architectural Digest Germany
In Good Company featured on Sight Unseen
"Detroit Furniture Design Legacy" in Surface Magazine
Popeye Magazine (Japan) Makers' Way of Living Feature, February 2018 Issue & Interior Issue, This is How City Boys Live, 2019 (feature reprint)
Hypotenuse Light featured on Sight Unseen
Artist Profile: Nick Tilma, Michigan Daily