About Us

Servicing Northland since 1963

Palmer Canvas was established in Whangarei in 1963 by founder Ray Palmer as a one-stop canvas shop to service the Northland region. Offering reliable and quality bespoke products the company quickly grew to become the trusted canvas fabricator for many different applications and industries.

During the 1980s Graham Griffin who had started as an apprentice tradesman under Ray Palmer and Leister Smith purchased the company and set about exploring the demand and opportunity to evolve the company into the fabric structure and computer-aided design world that he saw as the future of the fabric manufacturing industry.

In the 1990’s Warwick Bell owner/founder of multiple events and awning companies invested with Graham Griffin into Palmer Canvas and created a separate division called Fabric Shelter Holdings. With the success of Graham’s design and structural experience coupled with Warwick’s broad areas of knowledge, the companies began setting new boundaries of what was thought possible in the fabric structure world.

In 2011 Fabric Structures Limited (previous Fabric Shelter Holdings) with investor James Mizen onboard gained global exposure in creating the Cloud events base for the Rugby World Cup 2011. In August 2015 Palmer Canvas was purchased by Fabric Structures Limited, a company owned 50/50 by James Mizen and Structurflex Limited. Palmer Canvas now operates as a division of Fabric Structures Limited and has access to the resource and knowledge of the Fabric Structures division and also the Structurflex Group, a Group with operations in Auckland, Tauranga, Malaysia and USA. For further information please see website links below.

Company Values

Palmer Canvas is committed to offering our customers the best products, information and service possible in the trade.

By working closely with suppliers and distributors we offer products and materials to create inspiring and successful solutions that are at the forefront of the industry.

We take pride in our customer service, workmanship and the finish of our products, our dedicated team of sales, designers, tradesman and installers strive to ensure your needs are met to the highest standards through gained experience and continued education and training. We treat each project individually and offer a service that matches your expectations and budget alike.

Award Winning projects

We are the proud winners of multiple awards for our local and international projects. Our awards span across our entire product range and reflect the high standard of quality that we are committed to offering all our customers.

Associated Companies