Raymar Archival Fabriano Watercolor Painting Panels

Like many other brilliant ideas, Raymar started with humble beginnings in the family garage. Their story began in the spring of 1998 when Catherine Dietrich, a professional artist, and her husband John, an entrepreneur and lover of art, were inspired to fill a need in the art industry.

The idea came when Catherine enrolled in Ted Goerschner’s workshop at the Scottsdale Artist’s School. She was surprised at the supply list requirement to make her own painting panels. The steps seemed laborious and time consuming when all Catherine wanted to do was paint. So John was given the task to make panels for Catherine and her artist classmates. They quickly realized a viable product was missing in the art materials industry. Catherine thought, "Imagine all the frustrated artists out there!" And the idea for Raymar was born...

John consulted Ross Merrill, then curator of the National Museum of Art, to research and develop a professional, archival painting panel. Filled with research and driven by a desire to help artists, John and Catherine set about to produce their first professional panels. In the summer of 1998 Raymar was founded, named in honor of John's parents Raymond and Marion, who were a source of strength and creative inspiration.

In 2008, Catherine's daughter Emilie officially joined Raymar after John's unfortunate passing. Emilie took up the reigns to carry on her father's legacy and helped grow Raymar into what it is today. Together as business partners, Catherine and Emilie own and manage Raymar in Phoenix, AZ along with their dedicated staff.