Early Years and Education

David Lennie was born in a country town in New Zealand in 1946 and was schooled in NZ and England. He studied accountancy at Auckland University in the 1960s.

Olympic Skier (almost)

During his formative years he was much more interested in snow skiing than studying. He was awarded skiing scholarships and as a teenager won a place in the NZ Olympic training squad prior to the Grenoble Winter Olympics held in France in 1968. Sadly, two broken legs in training races ended his career, but he attended the Olympics anyway as the NZ Ski Team masseur. David is also a keen sailor, and in 1982 Represented NZ in yachting at the Clipper Cup in Hawaii.

Carnaby Street Groover and Entrepeneur

From 1967 to 1969 David Lennie travelled through Australia, UK and the US to attend motor industry sales and management courses. He spent two months in the motor city itself, Detroit, at Chrysler.

He lived in London for 18 months in the Swinging Sixties, loving every minute of it, living and hanging out in the bohemian district of Chelsea with artists and assorted colourful riff-raff.

David returned to NZ in 1969 to begin his motor industry career, which he did with aplomb, retiring in 1974, wealthy but brain dead. He was eager for a new challenge.

Discovers Wallpaper

In 1977, David Lennie bought into a small handprinted wallpaper company in Auckland, New Zealand. In the course of his preparation for exporting wallpaper to Australia he popped into Florence Broadhurst's showroom in Sydney. Upon introducing himself and his business, Florence promptly shooed him off her premises.

A Modern Day Medici

David Lennie loves art, and especially has a passion for discovering new artists that Signature Prints can take under its wing and promote. He's also heavily focused on education and is committed to giving students work experience at the studio and factory, as well as giving talks to educational institutions.

With his enthusiasm for design and the visual arts, he strongly believes that as well as being a thriving business Signature Prints also has a duty to preserve and archive artists' work for future generations.

When he's not working David Lennie lives in Paddington, Sydney, Australia, with his wife Helen, two cats and his Vespa - complete with a saddle upholstered in a old-pair of Florence Broadhurst 'Crucial' jeans. He enthusiastically supports the All Blacks rugby team and loves listening to his collection of completely unfashionable '60s and '70s vinyl.