Ron Jones tells us about his approach to furniture

 

“I value designing more importantly now. When I was younger it was the making” says Ron, whose love of engineering and "cleverly put together things” is evident in his beautifully made chairs, tables and cabinets His unusual joints and detailing, reference his interest in boatbuilding and how techniques can be translated into furniture, such as diagonally planked veneer.

 

Ron enjoys the challenge and creative potential of working to commission “You need to find clients that give you avenues you would like to explore” he says. Past commissions range from 20 chairs for a Cornish Church to a bathroom cabinet for Sir Christopher Frayling. Ron finds working with a client as a way of “helping people know what they want without realising it”, and cites evidence of good craftsmanship as “crucial for encouraging the public to pay that extra bit more than a shop bought piece of furniture”.

 

“It is difficult to separate my lifestyle and making” says Ron, whose workshop adjoins the family home, an old Chapel undergoing renovation by Ron and His wife Charlotte Jones, a potter whose workshop also adjoins the house. Ron has been building an incredible curved staircase, with a central hand rail that curves in one continuous sculptural form. “When I was a child being a craftsman was highly valued by my family as something amazing to be” says Ron, “I started working with wood at nine years old, running errands in a workshop” and “my son is now working for me as an apprentice which is pretty amazing”.

 

Ron was born in Cornwall, and grew up in Wiltshire, spending time in the 80’s working as a cabinet maker in Antibe, which resulted in jobs that included making a bed on a yacht longer for Clint Eastwood, who was wanting to charter a boat for the Cannes Film Festival!

 

Rons choice of finish is both visual and tactile “I am trying to span design, but also switch on slight nostalgia buttons in peoples minds to make them feel comfortable. I work with the tactility of contrasting materials and surfaces, natural wood with satin and high gloss”. Ron is a dedicated craftsman who truly respects his materials “I like mixing oak or ash with birch ply, using veneers to spread the oak, treating it as the precious material it is, because it takes so long to grow” he says.

 

 

Jessie Higginson, March 2006