Jonathan D. Lippincott was born the year after the first sculptures were made at Lippincott, and grew up watching the work taking place there. He studied studio art and art history at Swarthmore College, graduating in 1989. During the next few years, he worked at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts as a cook and handyman, at the Yale University Art Gallery as an art handler, and as a dessert baker in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1993 he moved to New York City to begin work in publishing, and a year later he joined Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where he is currently the design manager. Since 2000 he has also worked independently as art director and designer for a range of illustrated books about architecture, landscape, and fine art.