Guy Portelli

He was born in South Africa in 1957, but moved permanently to England with his parents in 1969, who had each come earlier to Britain to study as art students.

Whilst at college he started his own business, designing theatre sets, employing around twenty people.

On graduation, he found work designing hotel interiors but continued a part-time course in sculpture at Chelsea Art College (where his parents had studied).

In the late 1970s, he found employment at the BBC's special-effects department, working on sets for Doctor Who and Blake's 7.

[2] In 2008, Portelli gained £80,000 from three investors of the television programme Dragons' Den, convincing them that modern art is a viable and realistic investment.