our history

The company was founded on May 1953 by the late John Henry Saunders. John Saunders was born in San Francisco and came to Australia in 1931.

When the United States entered WWII John enlisted in the US Army. At war's end, John's mother gave him to take back to Australia some items of furniture which had been in the family for several generations.

In late 1940s John was employed by a large Sydney printer as a sales representative. Money was in short supply for the Saunders family at that time and thinking his little old table might have some value John wrote to the duPont Winterthur museum to see if it was interested. After some lengthy negotiations the Museum purchased the table – described as a walnut Chesterfield Dressing Table c. 1760 – for US$3,500.

This windfall provided the funds to purchase a small printery in Paddington. In the 1960s a decision was taken to depart from the highly competitive area of commercial printing and embark on what was considered then a pioneering specialisation – producing high quality raised printed business cards for the corporate community, first in Sydney then throughout Australia, Saunders ultimately attained a reputation as the country's premier specialist supplier of high class business cards and stationery, a position it holds to the present day.

John Saunders retired in 1980 and his younger son Robert took control of the business. After 50 years service with the company Robert has retired (as of 6/11/09)and Colin Bungate (an employee of 20 years and Director of 7 years) has taken over the business.