A furniture designer, John Miller began his design career in retail and point-of-sale design before launching his first successful business - Design Strength – specialising in furniture and equipment for people with disabilities.  A brief experience of lecturing in 1997 sparked an enthusiasm for teaching which ignited John’s career in education.  He went on to run London Metropolitan University’s degree in Furniture Design, becoming a Principal Lecturer and establishing a reputation for linking the students’ projects with the real world of industry.  With this experience in 2002 he launched the Furniture Works centre in east London, and developed programmes which brought together the energy of the local design sector with skilled UK manufacturers, and was able to invest significantly in emerging digital manufacturing technology.

John moved to Cornwall in 2005 to take up the post of Director of the School of Design at University College Falmouth (UCF), using his experience in London to secure some major projects for the University College.  He began working on what would become MARK as a research project after meeting Anna Hart in 2007.  When MARK was launched and took off he first divided his time between MARK and the College, then went full time for MARK in spring 2011.  John also runs a small holiday cottages business with his wife Kathryn (see link to the right) the cottages were designed by Nigel Stock and are furnished extensively with MARK furniture.

John has designed the Nest Chair for MARK, and works closely with all the other designers in the development of new MARK products.