Lunch With Norman
I’ve been working for Utrecht since 1979 and recently had the wonderful opportunity to have lunch with Norman.
He was one of the original founding brothers of Utrecht Artist Supply and Manufacturing Inc. First, in 1949, they started importing unprimed artist linen from Belgium. In 1957 they developed and manufactured artists acrylics and gesso. In the early 60’s they started producing oil paints and from this ambitious endeavor they were able to expand the company into a very large mail order business and finally into a retail store.
Barely in their 20’s, Norman and his brother Harold, started the company out of Brooklyn, New York. Norman opened the first Utrecht Art Supply store in New York City way back in 1966 and moved it to its current location on 4th avenue in the early 70’s.
We talked about the ‘old days’ and caught up on whats going on now. A very inspiring man, Norman said he is still painting every single day! It was an amazing time and we had a lot of fun reminiscing. Now our Company has grown to over 30 stores across the country! - Robert Saaf