Owen Jones

Owen Jones was, and still remains, a highly influential force in the world of architecture and design. His prolific and impressive work--captured here in its various stages through drawings, architectural plans, and photographs--is as current, imaginative, and important now as when it first emerged more than 125 years ago. Owen Jones: Design, Ornament, Architecture & Theory in an Age in Transition fills a serious gap in the history of Victorian design. In his early career Jones was recognized as an authority on Oriental design. In the 1850s he was commissioned to decorate the interior of Joseph Paxton's magnificent World's Fair Crystal Palace in London. Other signature projects include St. James' Hall, the Crystal Palace Bazaar, Osler's Glass Shop, and Eynsham Hall at Oxford. In 1856 he completed his monumental Grammar of Ornament, which remains one of the most influential works on design ever published and is a source for many artists and designers today. More than just an architect, Jones' skills were applied to designing interiors, books, textiles, furniture, and carpet. His philosophy can most accurately be expressed in his words, "Form without color is like a body without a soul."