It begins with a teenager who wanted something different, who felt restless in classrooms and far more at home around tools, materials and people who built things with purpose. When Ken Fleary left school at 15, he knew he wanted a future grounded in practical craft. His father was a joiner who made ornate furniture and Ken had grown up watching him shape timber into beautiful work.

That early exposure sparked a sense of possibility, and carpentry felt like a world where he could make a life for himself.

Leaving school at 15

He enrolled at Southwark College on The Cut in Waterloo. The college supported apprenticeships and encouraged hands-on learning, which suited him well. While studying carpentry, he gained work experience across three workshops. The first was on the Old Kent Road, focused on restoring antique furniture. The environment there was hostile, with Ken leaving quickly. The second placement was no better. Yet the third would change the direction of his life.

“Alastair Flint changed my life”

This final placement was with Alastair Flint, whose workshop built theatre scenery, bringing Ken into direct contact with a world he had not yet imagined. During the last days of his placement, Alastair took him on site to The Dominion Theatre. It was the GLC era, when companies received funding to take on apprentices, and the production load on stage that day was significant.

Dolly Parton was involved in a large show and Ken found himself doing trimming work downstage as directors and producers crossed back and forth. Dolly Parton walked across the stage, too. For a teenager who had never seen a professional production from that vantage point, the experience was transformative. He went home energised after discovering an industry that stirred something deep within him.

Ken’s first job

Shortly after, Ken’s career officer spoke with Alastair about his performance. Alastair offered him an apprenticeship and became one of the most influential figures in his early career. He was the kind of maker who could do everything well. He cared deeply about quality and raised the bar for every build. Ken absorbed those values quickly. His apprenticeship ran alongside weekly theory lessons in carpentry and joinery at college, which helped him develop both the practical and technical sides of the craft. Apprenticeships were then substantial commitments that lasted years which shaped you thoroughly.

A year in Amsterdam

One job marked a significant turning point. Alastair’s company had taken on a project for Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam and Ken stayed there for a year while working on it. Living and working abroad at a young age accelerated his confidence and sharpened his skills. You learn your own capability when you are far from home and part of a team delivering work under pressure. It was a period of growth that profoundly shaped him.

Flint Scenery was a place filled with young, talented people eager to work. Alastair had a gift for bringing the right mix together, and they produced strong work across a range of productions. Yet while Ken was in Amsterdam, the company took on a large London project that resulted in a heavy financial loss. The business could not recover and had to close. Ken was frightened. He had built his career there and suddenly needed stability.

Ken’s next step

He returned to London with savings and planned to take a break, though that rest lasted only a few days. A call came from Mark, one of the colleagues he respected from Flint. Mark told him about a workshop looking for help in Bethnal Green. Ken still hoped to spend time with family, yet he eventually visited the site the following week. It was Robert Batchler Scenery, based under railway arches. He arrived on a cold day, carrying his tools and doubt. “You never know how skilled you are until you work beside strangers”, said Ken, and he felt the weight of that uncertainty.

However, once he began, something shifted. Within a week, the team asked him to slow down because they struggled to match his pace. That moment gave him clarity. His years of training, the demanding standards set by Alastair and the intensity of the Amsterdam experience had shaped him into a maker of real capability. He felt it clearly for the first time.

Shortly after, the head of carpentry took time out and approached Ken to hold the role in the interim. He stepped into it with the same commitment he had learned under Alastair and the workshop began to change. He took on more work and larger jobs, whilst hiring members from the Flint team who had been made redundant when the company closed. The business grew under this new momentum.

Meeting Matt Scott, future co-founder of Scott Fleary

Before Ken arrived, Robert Batchler Scenery was turning over around a quarter of a million. Once he took charge of the workshop, revenue more than doubled. He was running the department, shaping the workflow and helping the company handle increasingly ambitious builds. As the workshop expanded, more talent came through its doors. One of them was Matt Scott (yes, our other co-founder), who arrived from RADA on work experience.

Robert Batchler wanted to keep Matt on, with him progressing to head of engineering. Ken and Matt began running the workshop side by side, with a team of around 25 people. That partnership would eventually evolve into something much larger, though at the time it simply felt like a period of strong progress and steady growth.

These early years paved the way for Scott Fleary‘s beginnings. They forged Ken’s commitment to quality, his belief in proper training and his instinct for both the craft and the people within it. The company’s foundation can be traced back to those formative moments. 

The teenager who followed his father’s craft into carpentry discovered theatre by chance; and those experiences became the first quiet steps toward what would eventually become Scott Fleary. Ken always knew he had a business-minded streak, even while he was training as a maker. He often thought about building something of his own and once came close to opening a jazz bar, which is a story for another day. That instinct to create and run something shaped the choices he made long before Scott Fleary existed.

Stay tuned for Matt Scott’s story…