Richard Jones
I have been in the furniture making business since the early 1970’s initially as a trainee followed by qualifying as a cabinetmaker with City and Guilds at Shrewsbury Technical College. During the period from 1973 to 1995 I worked for small to medium furniture and joinery companies, as a self-employed furniture maker, for Edinburgh College of Art, and for The Children's Museum of Houston. I undertook diverse roles in these jobs that included cabinetmaker, furniture maker, joiner, designer, restorer, furniture technician and workshop manager.
I started and ran my own full-time furniture business during the years I lived in Texas from 1993 to 2003 providing a design and make service complemented by commercial work, furniture repair and restoration projects for private and business clients, interior designers and architects.
I was offered the chance to return to the UK in 2003 to teach Furniture Design and Making at Rycotewood College, and worked there very enjoyably for two years. In 2005 I moved to Leeds College of Art and Design as Course Leader of their new Foundation Degree in Furniture.
I undertake furniture design and making commissions on a part-time basis, do consultancy work, and I continue to intermittently write articles on furniture topics for American and British magazines, something I have been doing since about 1997.