In another life…

Peter earned his living as an academic. He trained as a scientist (BSc. in Chemistry from Imperial College; PhD. Kings College Cambridge) but after three years of post-doctoral research on ‘old master’ paint media at the Courtauld Institute he switched to art, having pursued a part-time painting and drawing course at the Slade School (University College London).

John Major presents a prize to a Kingston design student
John Major presents a prize to a Kingston design student

His first teaching employment was at Wimbledon School of Art where he became Senior Lecturer. During his time at Wimbledon he began to write and broadcast on issues connected with art and design education. Blending his interests in both science and art he became the first UK editor of Leonardo the journal founded by Frank Malina.

Influenced by his meeting with Theo Crosby, he focused on design issues and shortly after it was designated as a Polytechnic he moved to Kingston as Head of Three Dimensional Design. This involved responsibility for courses in Interior, Industrial and Furniture Design. Under his leadership the School thrived to the point where it was able to mount the first (and still the only) student exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Robert Maxwell funds a book on Taste!
A historic curiosity indeed. Robert Maxwell funds a book on Taste!

Kingston had no heavy industry but it was a major retail centre and the multi-disciplinary nature of the Polytechnic made it easy to build bridges to subjects such as marketing and sociology. It was out of this conversation that his interest in the role of design imagery in consumerism was born. This lead to his book ‘Taste Today’ which won the International Robert Maxwell Prize, an award sponsored by ICSID to celebrate the centenary of the Royal College of Art.

Other interests included the Chairmanship of Art and Architecture, a think-tank promoting the inclusion of artist in the generation of architectural projects. On stepping down from the headship in 1992 he was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor, Kingston University.

To keep these two parts of his life separate Peter signs his paintings as 'Lloyd Jones'.