Our Products
After immigrating to Australia in 1952, Micador A. Dortimer went door-to-door selling European gift cards. They were a huge success, so he borrowed $500 from the bank, went back to Europe and started bringing art materials into the country.
In the 1970s, Micador sourced a small range of products (scissors, oil pastels and crayons) from Korea and Japan that had the Micador logo on them and while the art stores shunned products that weren’t made in Europe, the schools fell in love with them. They loved the quality and they loved the price and so Micador soon became a go-to for the school supplies industry.
Over the years and with new leadership came a new lease of life for Micador. Experts were enlisted to better our current range of products, to develop new products and to improve all aspects of the business.
“One of the things we really love about our product range now is you can start when you’re one year old with a Micador product,” says Owner and Managing Director, Ben Dortimer, “...and you can still be using a Micador product when you’re 101 as an artist.”
Our Team
As with products, Micador has a diverse range of people. Some have been with the company for 10, 20 years and some just one year. Head of Marketing, Sam Hall, says what makes the team strong is that “we are all really aligned in terms of the DNA and the values that we hold” and while we have really evolved as time’s gone on, we haven’t lost the family bind that we started with.
The Community
Michael Dortimer played an integral role in getting the Indigenous community involved with art supplies and helping them express themselves and create beautiful artwork. In the early days of Micador, he sold canvas boards and brushes to Iris Harvey, owner of Arunta Gallery and Bookshop in Alice Springs. These products were then some of the first art products used by some of the most famous Indigenous artists in Australia, including Clifford Possum, whose daughter Gabriella’s artwork is featured on the back of our updated Clean Slate Canvas Art Boards.
“It’s a really great historical loop we’re a part of,” remarks Dortimer.
At Micador, we’re always striving to innovate, to push the boundaries and to be the best we can be. This is our journey to becoming Australia’s most loved brand.
