Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a British architect and ornamental designer. He studied at the Royal Academy in London and under the architect L. Vuillamy (1825–31).
Arabic influences
During the 1830s, he travelled extensively and was mainly influenced by Arabic ornamentation.
He was a member of the influential Victorian artist and educator Henry Cole’s circle in the 1840s, joining the Society of Arts in 1847 and serving as Superintendent of Works at the 1851 Great Exhibition.
Sample of Works
Jones’ textile study, as well as four articles and approval of his design for the London shop front for Chappells, the music publishers, appeared in Cole’s Journal of Design the same year. In 1852, he was appointed joint director of the Crystal Palace’s decoration, which reopened in Sydenham in 1854 and featured his colourful designs for the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Alhambra Courts. Jones’s particular design strengths were in interior decoration, for which he produced carpets, wallpapers, and furniture.
Recognition
He received gold medals for projects shown at the International Exhibitions in Paris in 1867 and Vienna in 1873, after previously receiving the Royal Institute of British Architects’ gold medal (1857).
Books
Jones’s book The Grammar of Ornament (1856), which presented a vast selection of colourful and informative chromolithographic plates taken from a wide variety of cultures and periods to an international readership, was one of his most influential contributions. The concepts discussed in articles for the Journal of Design and lectures given at the Royal Society of Arts and Marlborough House in London formed the basis for this Grammar. An Attempt to Define the Principles which Should Regulate the Employment of Colour in the Decorative Arts (1852) and Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra (1842–5) were among Jones’s many other works.
Owen Jones available in our partner stores
Sources
Woodham, J. M. (2006). A dictionary of modern design. Oxford University Press.
Additional Reading
Hrvol, F. C. A., & Jones, O. (2006). Owen Jones: Design, Ornament, architecture, and theory in an age in transition. Rizzoli. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3rgpSvR.
Jones, O. (2016). The grammar of ornament: A visual reference of form and colour in architecture and the Decorative Arts. Princeton University Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/2ZvNlhd.
Moser, S. (2012). Designing antiquity: Owen Jones, Ancient Egypt and the Crystal Palace. Yale University Press. Retrieved from https://amzn.to/3HWZOfd.
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