Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of blog posts by Richard Jones, who has written a generous and detailed book about trees and their structure, and how this affects the work of furniture makers. As you’ll learn from this post, Richard is an incredibly skilled designer, woodworker, teacher and writer. Part of his genius is in the ability to take a technical matter and present it in a way that makes it easy to pick up his book for casual reading. At the same time, the charts and information within this tome on wood technology will quickly become invaluable to the work you do in your shop, and will be a resource you turn to again and again. The book is written, and Meghan is now working on the page design. The book is scheduled to be released in early 2018.
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
Hello. My name is Richard Jones, and I’m introducing myself to you at the invitation of the good people at Lost Art Press. The reason for this invitation is because I am a new author to them and they are transforming my manuscript on timber technology into a book which, at this stage, is still seeking a title that is somewhat different from my working title.
So, who am I to be writing about trees and wood?
I’m not a wood scientist. But I am a trained furniture designer/maker with British City & Guilds qualifications in the subject. I trained in the 1970s, working at the bench making craft furniture and joinery, gaining my qualifications in the early 1980s. Since those first steps I have worked continuously in and around the trade and profession. The early years consisted of gaining experience in a variety of workshops, primarily for smaller businesses, making furniture, repairing and restoring old furniture and antiques, and working as a joiner with jobs that included securing pay stations, and making panelling and architectural doors.
During the 1980s and early 1990s I worked as a technician in the Furniture Department of Edinburgh College of Art. It was the first time I was really required to take on a supervisory and management role within a workshop environment, and my work included overseeing other users, machinery maintenance, sourcing spares and materials, budgeting and other such tasks.
In 1993 I moved to Houston, Texas, with my American wife and became the temporary workshop manager for the Children’s Museum of Houston during the building of “The Magic School Bus: Insider the Earth” travelling exhibition. After this contract ended I started my own business, Richard Jones Furniture. I closed this business in 2003 to take up the offer to teach the Furniture: Design and Make undergraduate course at Rycotewood Furniture Centre, one of UK’s premier centres of craft furniture learning.
In 2005 I moved to Leeds, Yorkshire, to become Programme Leader of the BA (Hons) Furniture Making programme, a position I held for nine years until its closure in 2014. Throughout all these years in business and in my teaching roles I continued designing and making furniture for sale through exhibitions, galleries and direct sales to clients. Nowadays I continue to work in a number of part-time roles in furniture making and joinery on a freelance basis.
My next blog post? Why I wrote a book on timber technology.
– Richard Jones
Well done Richard. We at Rowden can’t wait to see the book .
very best
David Savage
Thanks for that David. I hope you and your learners and staff find it useful when the book does become available. Richard
Congratulations Richard, looking forward to the book’s release
Thanks Alan. I too am looking forward to the release. I’ve never had a book published before, so it’s all a bit of both a learning curve and an adventure.
Well done Rich. The fruition of a tremendous amount of work. Assuming you will retain copy one I’ll have copy two please – signed of course. EJ
Now, now Ed. You know already you’ll get a copy, even if I make you buy it from me for the cost of a meal at your place, ha ha.
Well done, sounds great. Looking forward to seeing the book and all the hard work that has gone into it.
Thanks Steve.
Really interesting post. Good luck with your publishing. You deserve it!
snyderwrites.com
Many thanks for your positive comments Morgan. It’s been a journey this particular piece of authorship, some 12 or so years from the start to this point, with a bit more time needed yet. I admit to being rather (pleasingly) taken aback by how quickly LAP have moved from accepting my manuscript to something which seems to be reasonably close to print ready. However, they have commented that I did supply them with a manuscript pretty much ready to go, so perhaps that has helped in the transformation from draft submission to this stage. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me to find they’ve put a great deal of hard work into the project since they started that transformation five or six months ago.
Delighted to see your name here Richard and am really looking forward to the book. Best of luck – Jim Blodgett
Many thanks Jim. And I hope you’re more than pleased when you do get to see the book.
By the way Jim, I meant to mention I recognised your name from eons ago when we used to exchange banter on Taunton’s Breaktime. I hope you’re keeping well, and I’m guessing you’re still in the Boston area, or at least Boston is the city that’s stuck in my mind -could be wrong.
Well that was a long while ago, but yes, we had some lively exchanges back then. You were one of guys who kept things lively and in fact we spent a few hours together at TexFest. I have several memories but specifically remember you describing propping yourself up in bed with a drawing pad to design the head board for a bed for a customer – what worked, what might be improved…But I remember thinking at the time that you were my kind of guy. Anyways, I have been reading this blog a few times a month for a couple years now and was delighted, but not at all surprised, to see you pop up here. From here it seems like a logical fit. Again, best of luck. Hopefully our paths will cross again.