Growing up in 80's England, a youngest of 4 boys, Jon spent his childhood tinkering with hand-me-down train sets and Scalextric in his bedroom and garage, learning about electricity, motors, and the art of breaking things to make something new. This early passion for technology and invention propelled Jon to pursue a degree in Electronic Engineering at Brunel University, obtaining a 1st class honours degree. Post university he developed toys for Hasbro and then moved to designing circuit boards for Dyson Appliances .
Whilst at Dyson he was bitten by the innovation bug and driven to expand his horizons away from a pure Electronic and technical discipline, and was provided a bursary from Dyson to study a 2 year, full time MA in Industrial Design Engineering (another IDE!) at The Royal College of Art in London. An intensive course aimed at providing engineers with design and human centred design skills necessary to excel in the design industry, this was a period in Jons life where he was exposed to expanded ways of thinking and how to view the world, the importance of putting the user first and ingraining design thinking methodologies within his raison d'être.
Subsequentially Jons combination of technical acumen, creativity and knowledge of the design process has provided Jon a range of different roles throughout his career, from working as a physical interaction designer for IDEO in San Francisco, to co-founding an award winning cleantech start up called DIY Kyoto in London, to developing smart cricketballs in collaboration with Kookaburra and working closely with the ECB.
Apart from the acronym being close to Jons heart, IDE is a natural progression for Jon, where he can utilise a careers worth of experience in technology development and design to help create products that make a real difference to people and that will genuinely enhance lives.
When Jon isn’t thinking about innovation, you might find him on a trial through a hinterland jungle, watching Arsenal or cheering on his sons Rugby Union team, the mighty Bond Pirates.
"If I were as rich as Rockefeller I’d be richer than Rockefeller,…… because I’d do a bit of window cleaning on the side."
- Ronnie Barker
