Way back in 1996, Will Ramsay opened Will’s Art Warehouse in London to bridge the public’s increasing interest in contemporary art and London’s gallery scene. By concentrating on relatively unknown artists, the gallery was able to offer works from about £100 up to £5,000.

The response Will received inspired him to take his approach to the next level, and three years later the Affordable Art Fair was born. Today, Affordable Art Fair has become something of a global phenomenon with fairs in Amsterdam, Austin, Berlin, Brisbane, Brussels, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Melbourne, New York, London, Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney. Since its inception, 3.3 million people have visited an Affordable Art Fair and purchased over £495 million worth of art. 

But Will didn’t just stop with the Affordable Art Fair! He went on to found the contemporary art hub PULSE, held annually in Miami from 2005 – 2019; co-found Art Hong Kong, which later became Art Basel Hong Kong, with Will as a Board member. Will also co-founded Taipei Dangdai and Art Central Hong Kong.

Ramsay Fairs added VOLTA, an established satellite fair to Art Basel in Switzerland and Frieze in New York, to its portfolio in 2019. And in 2022, the revered British Art Fair took place under the Ramsay Fairs umbrella for the first time in its three-decades long history.

Will was raised in Scotland, attended Eton College and Newcastle University. In addition to organising art fairs, Will has numerous projects on the go – setting up a sustainable energy business, running a farm, author, bagpipe player, amateur jockey; as well as being a devoted family man to his wife and four daughters.  

Meet the rest of the Ramsay Fairs Team!