Ken leads the firm and has been involved in major architectural and interior projects in the UK andacross the world. He works at board-level with clients to set strategic, design and aesthetic directionfor each project and agree how it is to be implemented. Many of the projects he has overseen havewon international awards, including those for architectural design effectiveness, interiors, lightingand product, and space management.

Ken has the spirit and passion of a creative entrepreneur. He welcomes challenges, whether theyrelate to design, materials, construction methods or planning issues, and meets them with energy andenthusiasm. He makes things work in ways that might not have been previously considered.

This spirit was evident from his time at the Royal College of Art. He went on to work as design directoron London’s Royal Opera House redesign with celebrated architects Jeremy Dixon and Ed Jones beforesetting up architectural firm Harper Mackay with David Harper in 1987 and then Mackay + Partners in2004.

Ken’s entrepreneurial instinct shows through his ability to identify the potential of a developmentsite, often bringing opportunities to developers. It also underpins the way he works, collaborating withother designers from Lord Rogers and Renzo Piano to Philippe Starck and Patricia Urquiola.

It has led him to partner with like-minded people outside architecture on ventures requiring a marryingof expertise. For example, for ten years he was a partner in Clerkenwell restaurant, Portal, which healso designed, with restaurateur Antonio Correia. Previously, he and James Mair, founder of Londonhigh-end furniture company Viaduct, set up a contract furniture side-line.

These were an adjunct to Mackay & Partners, which remains his main creative outlet.