John Kenneth Walker 1945 - 2013

Our co-founder and managing director died peacefully in hospital on Tuesday 17th September after a long battle with cancer.

John was respected by all at Macro Art and to many he was a father figure, always there to help with work and personal matters alike. He will be missed.

John was a true pioneer in the wide format printing industry, starting out in the late 1980′s by selling material for printing machines. He then imported the first 5 metre Vutek in the UK and set up a European demo centre on an industrial estate in Great Gransden near Cambridge.

John saw an opportunity to provide wide format print to the billboard market and along with Gretchen Walker, Macro Art was ‘Born’ in 1991. Of course, digital printing was a very different industry back then and a typical backlit 96 sheet would take 8 hours to print at 18dpi.

Much has changed over the past 20 years, technology improved and each time it did John re-invested in faster, better machines making Macro Art one of the leading suppliers of large format print in the UK.
John would always look five years ahead, this enabled him to spot new market sectors and invest accordingly, most recently in textiles via dye sublimation.

Due to this foresight Macro Art now occupy a large business park with four 5 metre UV machines and four 3 metre dye sublimation machines, over seventy staff and a host of specialist and finishing equipment.

John worked right up to a few days before he passed, always working, talking about new ventures, sending emails at 2 in the morning! this is the way he was and the way he will be fondly remembered.

If you knew or had met John, you would not forget him easily, a larger than life character who could hold court with stories of the past whilst keeping your glass full. The industry has lost a great ambassador.

Our warmest sympathy goes out to Johns family and close friends.