Biography for John Paul Cooper

Employment

John Paul Cooper took up metal working in 1897 after training as an architect for a number of years. He specialised in the use of unusual materials, notably shagreen, which he began using in 1903, long before it became fashionable in the 1920s and 1930s. Cooper taught at the Birmingham School of Art, where he was head of the metal work department from 1904 to 1907. He moved to Kent and finally set up his workshop in his house, which he designed himself, at Westerham.