Muses is a series celebrating individuals who embody our core pillars: the organic, the feminine, movement, and integrity.
Lily Lewis
Art is more than creation for Lily—it’s an instinct, a language, a path she couldn’t walk away from even if she tried. Working across painting, sculpture, tapestry, and poetry, her work is deeply rooted in narrative, intuition, and the quiet power of the organic. Drawn to the rhythms of nature and the fluidity of storytelling, Lily’s creative world is one of movement and meaning—where materials are more than just mediums, they are conduits for something greater.
In this conversation, Lily shares her perspective on art as storytelling, the significance of jewellery as modern talismans, and the quiet magic of the Spring Equinox. To mark the shift in seasons, she has also written a poem for us—an ode to renewal, light, and the rhythms of nature.
What was the moment (or realisation) that set you on this path?
When I realised I couldn’t do anything else. It wasn’t an option. I tried several other things, but circumstances kept bringing me back to art, to creating things with my hands. That’s not to say you can’t be creative in any field—you can—but my path couldn’t be different, no matter how much, in fleeting moments, I’ve wished it could be. It’s not an easy road, but it’s mine.
Does storytelling guide your creative approach, or does it emerge intuitively?
Storytelling and narrative are both the structure that my work is made from and the thing that fills it. I have always started with the bones and body of a story, but the life that grows inside that shape feels like it made itself—that I helped, but it exists on its own.
With painting, sculpture, tapestry, and poetry in your practice, how do you decide which medium best serves an idea?
How do you best tell the story of a dream? Some things you can speak, others you have to show, but the real magic comes when you leave enough space for other people to recognise their dream in yours.
There has to be an innate integrity to the translation of an idea, whether spoken or visual, and the medium it should be experienced through should be informed by the purpose of the message.
Mysticism, nature, and femininity are central themes in your work—how do these themes shape your perspective as an artist?
There’s a holistic way of living and being that I didn’t consciously know I was building, a system that, through trial and error, I’ve found to be the most true to who I am and what I want to do.
Nature, integrity, intuition, creativity, play, and movement—both emotional and physical—are the key to not just being in a place where I am open to the ideas and inspirations that start my work, but also the quiet drive that means they get finished.
If I am distanced or distracted from these, my work and my life suffer.
The Spring Equinox is a time of renewal. What does this shift in season symbolise for you?
Winter is a gift, a rest and relief from the constant demands of productivity and progress. Although people deny themselves this, nature takes a moment.
It’s why the beginning of the calendar year feels like pressing the brake and the accelerator at the same time. The equinox is an energetic shift with increased sunlight and longer days that feels like an agreement, an aid, a relief.
Writing and visual art serve different senses. What does poetry allow you to express that painting or sculpture doesn’t?
There’s such play available with words. Poetry isn’t interrogated—as long as the note rings true, it makes sense.
Great poetry is like watching water and hearing it speak.
Do you see jewellery as another form of storytelling or self-expression similar to your art?
Absolutely. Not only are you telling your own story with signs and signifiers—wedding rings, symbols of wealth, tokens of attachments or affiliations or hopes and fears—but humans are telling stories in and with their bodies all the time. Jewellery is another way that we do that. To find a piece of jewellery that resonates with who you are, where you come from, or where you want to go is a beautiful thing, a remembrance.
Jewellery, like art, has the power to ground us in a moment. What pieces do you wear daily, and what do they mean to you?
I am a big believer in reminders. Whether you believe in the mystical properties of metals and stones or not, gold wasn’t made but collected in the making of the world—and that’s pretty magic. Diamonds are pure and hard and stand for truth, commitment, and light. More porous stones encourage different aspects of their characteristics in people: Hematite is magnetic, so attracts or repels; Quartz is pink and soft and draws love; Citrine is yellow and joyful; Agate is a hard stone and resists acid, so it is thought to balance and calm.
I wear a solid gold bracelet that was given to my grandmother by my great-grandmother and then to me, a diamond tennis necklace, and a small gold whistle with a little diamond to call my dog with. And she comes, like magic… when she feels like it.
It’s in the act of remembering what we want from these talismans that these materials can produce magic.
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Lily's work is an ever-evolving dialogue between material and meaning, intuition and form.
To explore more of her art and writing, visit www.lily-lewis.com and on Instagram @tigerlilylewis_studio.
Credits:
Photographer: Christopher Smith
Videographer: Tiori Spooner
Our latest muse, Lily Lewis, is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture, and poetry. In her London studio, she explores the connection between storytelling and materials, drawing inspiration from nature’s quiet rhythm.
Captured in her element, Lily wears her curated By Pariah jewellery stack—the Classic Bangle Stack in Moss Agate, the Classic Ring Stack in Moss and Grey Agate, and a layered diamond pendant necklace featuring the XL Pebble Pendant, Sticks & Stones Pendant, and Small Pebble Pendant.
In this conversation, Lily reflects on the symbolism of jewellery, the power of layering ring stacks and bangle stacks, and shares an exclusive poem written for By Pariah to honour the Spring Equinox.
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