Bernard Johnson

I live in Oxford and have a studio near Woodstock in West Oxfordshire. Many of my customers come to me having found that the conventional suppliers of memorials are not able to meet their needs for something personal.

I treat every commission as a separate work of art and there is nothing standard. Memorial making for me is part of the wider craft of stone carving and I like to combine lettering with relief sculpture and stonemasonry to make unique and attractive things.

I came to the craft later in life having spent a business career in publishing. My training was at City of Bath College, supplemented by lettering courses run by the Memorial Arts Charity. I am a QEST craft scholar, having won an award in 2006 from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. This has has helped further my skills development by providing funds for individual training with one of the UK's top lettering carvers.

My work builds on interests in design and sculpture that extend back to my schooldays and growing up in West London, –interests that continued through my university days at Cambridge and throughout my career with the Oxford University Press.

In common with many other stonecarvers and lettering artists I am stongly influenced by the work of Eric Gill, and share his interest and enthusiasm for carving religious imagery.

I am always pleased to welcome enquiries and vistors by appointment, as well as to encourage and help others interested in the joys of working with stone.