Born in Fife, Scotland in 1956 to an eccentric, romantic and cultured family, Mach’s mother watched every movie and read every book, while his father related stories of old family members surviving concentration camps in Siberia. Mach studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 1974, where he experimented with many of the techniques and ideas that remain at the core of his oeuvre to this day. After graduating, he was awarded a place at the Royal College of Art in London, emerging with a Masters Degree in 1982.