Artists Diane Doyle and Ron Roman are a dynamic team, each supporting one another’s dreams while creating a beautiful life and beautiful, artful projects together.

Ron Roman Studios and Doyle Designs is more than just a woodshop. Ron and Diane have been together for 22 years working alongside one another, growing their business one step and project at a time. They are both truly creative souls. Ron graduated art school in NYC at the School of Visual Arts, focusing on graphic design, photography, painting and sculpture. Diane went to school in Charlotte, NC focusing on graphic design, illustration and sign language interpreting and later ceramic sculpture. 

Ron has developed many building skills including carpentry (all aspects), electrical, plumbing, painting, and more. Carpentry and photography have long been a common denominator in Ron’s life. He has shot still photos for magazines, brochures, CD and book covers and video for live concert events. Ron has a lifelong passion for playing (and listening to) music, especially drums and percussion.

Diane has honed several fine art skills, including illustration, painting and ceramics. Her large-scale, wall mural ceramic sculptures have been installed in many locations: hotels, schools and commercial buildings. She has contracted building projects for large commercial projects.

They met in Asheville, NC in 2002 and immediately joined forces, starting their own graphics studio. Ron added video and web design to the mix. Together on weekends they started renovating their 1928 home in West Asheville (long before the town became “hip”.) That experience would eventually spark them to start a renovations business. 

They both shared a love of design as well as hiking and outdoor adventures. Before meeting, each thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and Diane the Pacific Crest Trail. Her trips were as a solo hiker. Together they logged in several thousand more miles of backpacking, paddling and biking adventures. Their personal and professional relationship grew and developed into a lifelong partnership and eventually a marriage in 2014.

What seemed like smooth sailing ahead, was met with an unfortunate event. Diane was diagnosed with Stage IV Ovarian Cancer just 40 days before their wedding. This started them on a difficult journey which would bring them even closer together and more focused on their personal priorities. Patience, researching cancer cures, and reducing stress led to many miracles along the way. Diane’s willingness to try many new alternative options was a winning combination in fighting a terminal diagnosis. 

While working, Ron focused on caring for Diane as she went through treatments and recovery. After eight years of treatments, surgeries and building back her strength, Diane was able to get back to being involved in their business. Now ten years out from her original diagnosis, Diane continues to fight the chronic disease of cancer, but has more hope and strength for the long future than ever before. Always knowing that time here is short and precious. They are a dynamic team. Each supporting one another’s dreams while creating a beautiful life and beautiful art together.

“We create our work environment to have the least amount of stress, bringing us the feeling of joy each time we create a client’s dream piece. It’s a paradigm that works for us and happily, most of our clients have become people we now call our friends. It’s a perfect win-win environment and we can be proud of what we created and what we will eventually leave behind.”

—Diane Doyle