In 1954, Nancy and Walter Katin opened a small boat cover business called Kanvas by Katin in Surfside, California, just north of Huntington Beach. Walter, a tenaciously friendly man, both short and robust, always donned an iconic ensemble of a powder-blue jumpsuit zipped up to the neck with a captain's hat. Earning the nickname the "Captain," for both his style and passion for sailing his boat "The Southern Seas," proudly took on the title of craftsman within the business. Walter's wife Nancy, standing less than five feet tall possessed a personality far greater than her stature and a mind brighter than her crimson hair, was the salesperson.