Joel Scilley

Born and raised in Florida, Joel studied art, archi­tec­ture, and design in New York and Europe before earning a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies. As part of these studies, he interned in carpen­try, archi­tec­ture, and urban planning.

Joel defected from acad­e­mia in 1997 to return to design­ing and making things as a reno­va­tion carpen­ter in the Cali­for­nia Bay Area. Over time, his carpen­try shifted towards fine wood­work­ing, and he made his first audio turntable, and founded his company Audiowood in 2008.

Joel’s work has been featured in art, design and audio exhi­bi­tions across the US. And he was named a ​“Person to Watch” and a ​“Tech Designer to Watch” by New Orleans Maga­zine and Apart­ment Therapy, respectively.

Audiowood designs have also won numer­ous awards at art shows and craft fairs, includ­ing ​“Most Unique Work” at New Orleans’ Jazz Fest in 2015 and 2018, and they are featured in dozens of major inter­na­tional publi­ca­tions includ­ing The New York Times, Cali­for­nia Home and Design, Inked, Velvet (Italy), Wired (Germany), Visi (South Africa), Design (Taiwan), The Daily Mail (UK), Boing­Bo­ing, Cool Hunting, Apart­ment Therapy, Thril­list, etc.

Over the years, Joel has part­nered with a wide variety of inter­na­tional and local inter­ests, includ­ing Uncrate, Bush­mills, Anthro­polo­gie, Para­mount Pictures, Adrian Grenier’s SHFT, Kemble Inte­ri­ors, and both WWOZ Radio and The Green Project in New Orleans.

Joel was recently awarded a patent for an inno­v­a­tive approach to modular housing design, and he’s currently produc­ing a ​“science fictional” series of organic, kinetic sculp­tures, that tap into themes of sustain­abil­ity and post-apoc­a­lyp­tic survival gadgetry. Joel began work on the latter project in Spring/​Summer 2021 as an Artist in Resi­dence at the Joan Mitchell Center.

Joel has lived in New Orleans since 2013.