For 30 years Christopher Jones has been designing and building objects and environments that create illusions and tell stories. Whether it’s expressing the psychology of a character through a minutely detailed movie set, or creating a fantastical environment of light and color with exotic materials, Chris Jones has a solid track record of very satisfied clients.
Evolving from a background in Traditional and Abstract Sculpture, Chris learned the craft from the ground up. Studying everything from composition and color design to Carpentry, Welding, Mold making and Bronze casting, Chris feels just as at home making a prop from scratch as he does searching to ends of the earth for it. Having worked in every position in the Art Department on Features, Television shows, Commercials and Industrials, he is very attuned to expressing the vision of the creative source material.
Chris Jones had spent seven years from 2003-20010 as a Master Carpenter and Project Manager on many popular home design television shows. He has lent his skill and creativity to such shows as NBC’s “Trading Spaces Boys vs. Girls”, DIY’s “Don’t Sweat IT”, TLC’s “Take Home Handyman”, “Trading Spaces Family”, “Trading Spaces Classic”, and BBC’s “While You Were Out”. For five years, he had been with Trading Spaces Classic, working closely and creatively with all of the carpenters and designers, including Ty Pennington, Carter Osterhouse, Hildi Santos-Thomas, Doug Wilson, Genevieve Gorder, Amy Wynn, Faber Dewar, Andrew Dan Jumbo, Frank Bilek, etc. In 2010 he had moved from a Behind-the-Scenes Carpenter into an On-Camera carpenter position. Chris was the On- Camera Carpenter/ Project Manager for the “Dear Genevieve” home design show with Genevieve Gorder on the Home and Garden Network. It’s this intimate experience with how the design process relates to how things are actually built that gives Chris Jones a unique perspective in a world of compartmentalized departments.
From 2010 to the present, Chris started the Ready Set Go Design Company and has been exclusively involved in Production Design, Art Direction and Set Design for Commercials and Movies, creating 3D Cad designs and built sets for the likes of National Geographic, NFL Films, ESPN, Comcast, and 100’s of other clients.
Education
1987-1989 University of the Arts– Design Fundamentals
1990-1994 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts– Painting, Sculpture Training. Bronze casting, welding, woodworking focus. Assist Shop Manager. Won travelling scholarship to travel to France, Spain, Morocco.
1994-1995 Tangier American Legation Museum– Lived and worked in historical Museum in Tangier, Morocco for 1 year. Travelled extensively and showed paintings and sculptures in a curated show at the Museum.
Production
2000 “Waiting” (Feature) -Production Designer- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0270059/
2001 “Diary of a City Priest” (Feature)- City Story Pictures- Lead Man
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208899/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
2002 “My Fathers Gun” (TV Movie)- NFL Films / History Channel- Propmaster
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331574/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
2003 “Blood From a Stone” (Documentary)- NFL Films / History Channel – Propmaster
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387880/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
2002-2008 “Trading Spaces” Classic (Tv Series): On Set Carpenter / Project Manager
2003-2005 “Trading Spaces Boys vs. Girls”(Tv Series): Master Carpenter/ Project Manager
2009-2011 “Dear Genevieve” (Television Series): Project Manager / On Camera Carpenter
2012 “Patric” (Feature) Production Designer / Art Director
2013 “BrainGames” (TV Series) Big Smack / National Geographic- Propmaster
Researched and reproduced visual illusions for use in the Promo for the National Geographic show “Brain Games.” Built special effect props, including a Contraption that uses sound to “reverse” time, a “tilted room”, and a sense altering miniature room.
2013 “30 for 30” (Documentary) NFL Films/ ESPN – Production Designer / Art Director
Used 1983 video footage to exactly reproduce the look of the 1983 NFL Draft in its original ballroom location for this ESPN Documentary. Designed and had built the ESPN stage and NFL Podium. Designed and oversaw the Graphics, acquisition of period props, and painting of original pattern on prop carpet. Organized art department and dressing of room, coordinating a crew of 30.
2019 “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” (Television series): Host Standup Art Director
Designed and arranged Backgrounds for Bruce Campbell’s Host Stand ups using some of the 10,000 amazing objects at Ripley’s main warehouse.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (TV Series 2019– ) – IMDb
2019- Present- Art Direction and Set Design for Commercials and Television.