GOLDEN Adds Product Development Engineer to Paintworks Division

- New Berlin, NY, February 4, 2005 -

Vaikunt Raghavan, Ph.D., recently joined Golden Artist Colors, Inc., in a newly created position as its Product Development Engineer. Raghavan is responsible for working within the Paintworks Division of GOLDEN to determine customer product requirements and develop and test formulations. The principal focus for this position is new product development. Raghavan will also interface with the Production and Quality Assurance Departments at the company for scaling up large quantities of product and improving product related processes in Operations.

Another area of the company in which Raghavan will play an integral role is the Custom Lab. The GOLDEN Custom Lab is the only facility of its kind dedicated to designing products to desired specifications for individual artists. The ability to make products to meet artists’ criteria has been a central concern of the company since its inception. Over the last 20 years GOLDEN has produced over a thousand custom products to meet the individual needs of our creative customers. Through this unique facility, artists, conservators, designers, architects, manufacturing companies and other clients interested in specialized coatings are able to overcome obstacles in the limitations of their tools and materials and achieve their creative goals.

Prior to joining GOLDEN, Raghavan worked for Aexcel Corporation in Mentor, Ohio for four years as its Technical Director. Aexcel Corporation is a company focused on providing its customers with the highest quality traffic and road marking paint, specialized OEM industrial coatings or custom formulated and blended product on the market. Raghavan received his doctorate in 1982 in Chemical Engineering. He also gained post-doctoral research experience at Illinois Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University and has been a research and product development consultant to many coatings industries.

“The tremendous amount of knowledge and professional experience Vaikunt brings to GOLDEN will further strengthen our Paintworks Division,” said Technical Director, Jim Hayes.

“We are thrilled to have Vaikunt join us and we are very anxious for our customers to reap the benefits of his extensive expertise and outstanding skill sets.”

Raghavan is currently a member of the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology (FSCT), a not-for-profit organization focused on providing technical education and professional development to its members and to the global industry through its multi-national Constituent Societies and collectively as a Federation.

About Golden Artist Colors, Inc.

Founded in 1980 by the Golden family, Golden Artist Colors, Inc. began producing acrylic paint as a result of conversations with artists who needed new materials to help them explore more innovative ways of working with acrylic. The products that Sam Golden developed as the result of collaborations with these painters became his inspiration and central motif that he carried forward in the creation of GOLDEN.

Now a global brand, GOLDEN acrylics continue to extend the boundaries of painting through quality, innovative products born of a constant dialogue with artists, which drive the company’s innovation. Located in its expanding 60,000-square-foot facility in rural Columbus, N.Y., GOLDEN’s 110 employees are committed to producing materials that encourage exploration of form and concept, while assuring archival integrity. GOLDEN takes pride in the fact that its Custom Lab is the only facility of its kind, dedicated to designing products to the specifications of individual artists. Developing paints to meet exacting criteria is the specialty of GOLDEN’s custom operations. As a natural progression from our initiatives in the fine arts market, GOLDEN Paintworks was recently born. Paintworks is the commercial paint and coatings division of Golden Artist Colors, Inc. It provides commercial and OEM clients with paint making technology, toll manufacturing and integrated solutions. GOLDEN Paintworks can design a full solution to a coatings project based on its expertise designing, manufacturing, marketing and selling high performance paints and coatings. The company also assists customers with complex production, packaging and regulatory issues. For more information about Golden Artist Colors, Inc. and its comprehensive product offering, call 1-800-959-6543 or visit the company’s Web site at www.goldenpaints.com.