Between 1906 and 1909, Roman Schneider studied at the Wood Industry School in Zakopane, in the sculpture section. He then went on to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna under the eminent representative of Viennese Art Nouveau, Professor Josef Hoffmann, from which he graduated in 1916. He continued his education at the Faculty of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, working in parallel, between 1920 and 1923, at the Wawel Reconstruction Office on the renovation of the Zygmunt Chapel.

In 1923, he married Helena Cholewińska, with whom he had a daughter, Anna, who was his only child (his wife died in 1928). From 1926 to 1928, he taught drawing and design at the State Industrial Female School in Łódź and at the State Textile School, and from 1928 to 1939, he was an assistant to Professor Wojciech Jastrzębowski at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, at the Laboratory of Solid and Plane Design. He was associated with the Artists' Cooperative "Ład". Among his furniture designs, it is worth mentioning the desk for the office of the President of Warsaw, Stefan Starzyński, and the interior decoration of St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw for the funeral ceremony of Marshal Józef Piłsudski (1935). In the same year, he married Maria Litauer.

The artist cooperated with the BLOK Group, co-founded the biweekly magazine "Plastyka" (article "On furniture", 1936, no. 2) and served as a commissioner of group exhibitions: in Helsinki (1936) and Bucharest (1937). Schneider was awarded the Prize of the Mayor of Warsaw for his interior and furniture designs at an exhibition at the Institute of Art Propaganda and 2nd prize at the international furniture competition of the Thonet-Mundus concern in Vienna. In 1935, at the request of the Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts, the artist was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit for his achievements in teaching and artistic work.

At the beginning of the war, the Schneiders were arrested and imprisoned in Lviv prison. Roman was deported to a gulag on the White Sea in 1940. Liberated under an amnesty, he joined the nascent Polish army and in Jangi Jul (Uzbekistan) met his wife, who had arrived from another gulag. Together with the Anders Army, they reached Tehran. Discharged from the army, Schneider became involved in the organisation of artistic life: he took over the management of the painting department of the Polish Artistic Workshops (Polska Wytwórnia Artystyczna) and from 1943 to 1945 served as president of the Professional Union of Polish Artists in Iran, which had been established on his initiative.

Schneider completed several commissions in the Middle East: he designed the interiors of The Green Room Theater (The Green Room Theater) for the British-Persian Club, the interiors of the home of the Commander-in-Chief of the US Army and a summer palace and set of furniture for the sister of the Shah of Persia. In Lebanon, from 1947 to 1948, he taught a course in the composition of solids and planes at the Polish School of Painting and Drawing. Failing to obtain permission to travel to the UK, the Schneiders emigrated to Canada in 1950.

Roman was employed at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he taught composition of solids and planes. From 1952 he served as dean of the design department at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. He also taught ceramics at the Madoc Art Centre summer school and continued teaching at the Schneiders School of Fine Arts in Actinolite.

In exile, ceramics became an art discipline passionately pursued by Schneider. His work participated in many exhibitions and won awards on several occasions. For the first time in 1953, the artist presented his ceramics at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto, in the 'Poles in Canada' pavilion. At the CNE in 1961, his work won five awards in various categories: decorative work (first prize), applied work (honourable mention), sculptural work (first prize), glazed effects (third prize) and a special mention for ceramics and ceramic sculpture. In 1966, all four entries won prizes: glaze (1st prize), decorative ceramics (2nd prize), functional ceramics (2nd prize) and ceramic sculpture (3rd prize).

Roman Schneider created a wide variety of ceramics - from utilitarian objects such as plates, jugs and bowls to fanciful afunctional objects. He experimented with glazes, drew inspiration from Greek vessels, Polish folk objects of everyday use, as well as indulging in creative fantasy. Canadian critics emphasised the originality of his workshop, his technical mastery and his wealth of ideas and formal solutions.

For his artistic and social activities in the Polish community, Roman Schneider was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit by the Polish Government in Exile in 1969. Works of his ceramics are in the collections of the Art Gallery of Northumberland, in Canadian institutions and in family collections in Poland. Since 1995, a Roman and Mary Schneider Foundation Scholarships of two thousand dollars has been awarded at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, with preference given to students of Polish descent.

Works in catalogue
Gallery of Northumberland (AGN Pernament Collection website), has 35 ceramic objects in its collection, twelve of which are on view on the gallery's website. An angel - a ceramic figure with wings, a vase - covered with an openwork glaze, three egg cups, an ashtray, an urn, a vase, a vessel inscribed Acadia Univ.1952, a pot with lid, a jar with lid, a glazed cockerel. An original workshop referring both to Polish folk vessels of everyday use, going back to the ceramic traditions of ancient Greece and the Etruscans, and resorting to fantasy in the search for new forms and ornaments. The artist constantly experimented with the material, looking for various possibilities of using glaze in finishing and decoration.