Fundraising | School Information
We are the largest greeting card company in Australasia, helping both Australians and New Zealanders to celebrate with a huge variety of cards and gift wrap items under brand names such as John Sands, The Ink Group, Momentum Greetings and Creative Stationery.
Australia and John Sands - We're true blue since 1837!
John Sands has been in Australia for nearly 175 years, in fact, we are the second oldest registered company here (beaten only by The Bank of New South Wales) way back in 1837. John Sands, son of an English engraver and our founder, got off a boat that year with enough stock to set up shop as a stationery supplier in the new colony. In 1865 he registered the now famous 'hourglass' logo and in 1881 he produced the very first Australian Christmas cards (whose designs were the result of a national competition). The company remained in the Sands family until 1978 when it was bought by the Melbourne based Valentine Greeting Card Company and we began trading as Valentine-Sands. Along the way, the company merged with Murfett Regency. In 1989 the value of the name John Sands was once again recognised and we resumed trading under it along with the return of our 'hourglass' logo in 1993.
Since 1949 John Sands had been a licensee of American Greetings, a greeting card company based in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1996 we became a wholly owned subsidiary of this organisation making us part of the largest publicly listed greeting card company in the world.
New Zealand and John Sands - A long time under the long white cloud!
In New Zealand we have a similar long history starting in 1949 when Mr. Arthur H. Couch founded Tanner Couch Ltd to work with both John Sands and American Greetings, distributing their products throughout the country. The company grew into the largest greeting card company in New Zealand and was bought by Valentine-Sands in 1988 to become, as it is known today, John Sands New Zealand.