Neil Ferber's father was a child refugee from Germany in the 1930s, who remained in England after the war and married an Englishwoman. Neil was born in Wales and educated in Cardiff. He became interested in art while still at school, making models and objects in a shed at the bottom of his parents' garden. He went to Bulmershe College, Reading where he studied sculpture under Dennis Harland and Alf Parks both of whom had left head of department jobs at Leeds Art College to run a new Art Department at the Reading College

Reclusive and individualist he has exhibited sculpture only occasionally. He has always avoided following fashionable or commercial trends in art, believing in the traditional values of fine art techniques. Through a period of many varying styles and trends, Neil has consistently worked in an abstract mode, modelling in clay or wax and casting sculptures in a variety of modern materials, experimenting with different textures and finishes. His work is architectural, constantly exploring the relationships of mass and space in his own particular way. The main influences throughout his career have been European - looking towards Brancusi and Eduardo Chillida.