Richard’s chat today with Jonathan charts his progress through the company to his current role of Production Director, as well as his successful freelance costume design career.
He joined Angels in 1984, and he was apprenticed to Roger Tonks and his team of costumiers at Shaftesbury Avenue. He was later given the opportunity by Tim Angel to develop a new department, servicing the expanding demand for contemporary costume. Jonathan worked on projects including music videos for Culture Club, Duran Duran and Wham; commercials for companies such as BT and BA; feature films such as The Witches and Four Weddings and a Funeral; and numerous TV productions including Inspector Morse. During the course of this work, he has developed long-standing associations with many of the most successful costume designers in the UK and abroad.
With Angels acquisition of two major costume collections – Bermans and BBC Costume – Jonathan’s role expanded to include supervising and administering complete in-house shows, managing all aspects of the costume-hire process with a particular focus on the workrooms and manufacturing.
In recent years, Jonathan has been designing costumes in his own right, culminating in a 2020 Olivier costume design nomination for the acclaimed Menier/West End production of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn.