Tiny Boxes, Big Possibilities

Woodworker turned a basic idea into a legacy

By: Alison Fields

Ray Jones makes ten different sizes of box, ranging from simple to highly sculptural. 
Photo by Tim Barnwell

It all started with one small wood box. At the time, its maker, Ray Jones, was an aeronautical engineer living in California, who had taken on woodworking as a hobby. 

“I’ve always had a real thing about wood,” says Jones. “And I had enough confidence from working construction jobs when young that I’d started doing some furniture projects on my own. And I decided I was going to use my new skills to make my wife a box as a gift.”

Ray Jones is serious about sourcing the best wood.
Portrait by Karin Strickland

That single box, handmade in 1981 using only wood and no metal, would prove to be a hit not only with his wife, but the launching pad for a new chapter in Jones’ life. A year later he quit engineering and started woodworking full time. In 1990, he moved to Asheville with his wife and was accepted into the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Creating in the mountains, he discovered a warm, enthusiastic community in which, he jokes, “woodwork is almost a legitimate answer to ‘What do you do for a living?’”

“Most of the  boxes I sell are not far off from that first one,” he says. “In my primary line, I make ten different sizes, the smallest roughly equivalent to a deck of cards, customizable, no stains, no dyes.”

The intricate “Omega Box” with interior drawers is part of the woodworker’s “Very Special Boxes” turned-shape series that flirts beyond the functional.
Photo by Tim Barnwell

Good-quality wood is key, and Jones is serious about sourcing the most interesting and highest-quality woods he can find: curly cherry, figured maple, walnut burl; and exotic woods such as sapele, ebony, and koa. He’s always on the lookout for new and interesting varieties, citing an appreciation for 3-D effects in the woodgrain. This requires plenty of forethought and a good local distributor. “Because I’m a woodworker, people on social media will regularly reach out to me about a tree that has fallen in their yard, without realizing that not all woods are created equal, or that it’s a lot of work to go from tree to board

“It’s time consuming. It can be dangerous,” he explains. “Still, all woodwork begins with a log, and I have started there myself.”

Jones also has a line, “Very Special Boxes,” that he describes as more artistic: “These are boxes that incorporate turned shapes and require the use of a lathe. Sometimes they work in unusual ways.” 

His “Scarab” series, for instance, features round, footed “boxes” using multiple thin layers of exotic wood, with hinged exterior doors opening up instead of out and intricately stacked interior drawers. The effect is of a miniature antique armoire burnished with a Scandinavian Modern glamour.

 Continuing such high-end lines “would require an audience with an open mind and disposable income,” he admits. “They require more work, for sometimes less reward, but they’re always a challenge, which opens up all kinds of possibilities.”

MAKING THE GRAIN
This stack of boxes suggests the sheer variety of woods Jones might use: everything from cherry to redwood to walnut to sapele, plus many other species.
Photo by Tim Barnwell

Chief among those possibilities is collaboration. “I really enjoy working with other artists and craftspeople,” says Jones. “It really gets me out of the box, so to speak.”

To that end, Jones recently joined Ariel Gallery, a cooperative that’s owner-operated by a variety of local artists, including several other woodworkers.

“When the pandemic hit, I had to cut way back on the art and craft fairs,” says Jones. “Though online sales were good, I missed the chance to interact with customers. This is a wonderful space to share my work and sort of rejoin life again without having to dive back into the fair circuit.”

Still, as a board member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, Jones continues to participate in their large, Asheville-based biannual events, including the one downtown this summer. “And sometimes you can find me at the pop-ups in the Folk Art Center parking lot,” he adds.

“I’ve been around long enough that I’ll see my boxes at estate sales, and people will tell me about objects that have been passed down through generation, from person to person. … That’s something special.”

Ray Jones Woodcrafts Fine Wood Boxes, Asheville, rayjoneswoodboxes.com. See Jones’ work at Ariel Gallery (19 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, arielcraftgallery.com) and at Origami Ink (6 Boston Way, Historic Biltmore Village, origamiink.com). The artist will participate in the 75th annual Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, hosted by the Southern Highland Craft Guild and running Thursday, July 21 through Sunday, July 24, at Harrah’s Cherokee Center— Asheville (87 Haywood St., downtown). See southernhighlandguild.org.

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