Our Story

Part of who we are is where we've come from.

In 1952, Michael A. Dortimer, a Polish lawyer, holocaust survivor and immigrant, arrived in Australia with a suitcase of European greeting cards and the determination to make something of them. He went door to door. They sold. With $500 borrowed on the strength of a handshake, he expanded into European artist materials.

Micador was born.

From Pelikan to Papunya

Michael secured the Australian distribution for Pelikan in the '50s and, with nothing more than hard work and sheer determination, rapidly grew his stable of brands. Visiting Alice Springs, he walked into a little book shop and art store called the Arunta Bookshop and sold canvas boards and brushes to the owner. We're finding out now that those were the first commercially produced artist materials that some of the most famous Indigenous artists in Australia ever worked with. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Billy Stockman and others used products that Michael sold through Alice Springs as the surface for some of the earliest works of the Aboriginal art movement.

The stores said no. The schools said yes.

In the '70s, Micador began sourcing products from Japan and Korea. Art stores shunned them. Schools couldn't get enough. They loved the quality, obviously they loved the price. Fifty years later, we're still one of the leading brands in Australian classrooms.

A year that turned into 25

In 1999, at 26, Ben Dortimer, Michael's grandson, stepped away from the corporate world to turn around the family business. Just for a year. He's still here. What followed was a complete reinvention: new brands for every stage of life, a sustainability commitment that we pay for ourselves, and a team culture built on being experts at what we make. The business Michael started on a handshake, Ben rebuilt on instinct and determination. Today, there are five family members in the building, two of them fourth generation.

Still hungry

From early stART to Micador For Artists, we make products for your entire life's journey. We're obsessed with what's next, how it looks, and how it performs. Design that's uniquely us, materials that keep getting better, and a commitment to doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do. We've been making our products better for the planet since 2010, and we absorb the cost ourselves.

Same spirit. Very different business. Unmistakably us.