Stephen Cutts

At a glance

Today	Travelling sales agent and founder of Rose Agencies (established 2019)
In tourism retail since	1979, full-time, after part-time work in his younger years
Roles held	Sales representative, photographer, general manager, company director
Australia	Has travelled to every Australian state for sales work
China	49 visits, focused on selecting products and maintaining supplier relationships
Currently represents	Local Bloke, Kato Designs, Sundowner Souvenirs and Souvenirs Australia

Growing up in the business

Stephen grew up around the Rose Stereograph Company, the photography, postcard and souvenir business his family had been part of since the early twentieth century. He helped out part-time when he was younger and travelled with his father, Neil Cutts, around Australia and overseas.

Those trips showed him the whole chain behind tourism merchandise: creating or selecting the imagery, developing or sourcing the product, presenting the range to retailers and understanding the visitors who buy it. In 1979 he joined the business full-time.

A career across the whole business

Over the following decades Stephen worked as a sales representative, photographer, general manager and company director. After Neil retired around 1998, Stephen and his brother Jeffery carried the business forward together. Stephen focused on sales, photography and general management. Jeffery ran operations and was the main office contact.

That meant handling the day-to-day realities of a small wholesale business as well as its customer relationships. Stephen has felt the seasonal cycles and commercial pressures that affect both suppliers and the shops they sell to.

Photographer and artist

Stephen’s contribution was creative as well as commercial. He photographed major tourist destinations across Australia and produced Australiana paintings. His work appeared on Rose postcards and souvenirs for many years. He still holds his images. His personal historic archive of Australian locations, built up since 1979, is second to none, and his photographs have been used on tea towels, postcards, towels, flags, magnets, mugs and cups sold throughout Australia.

Museum records independently credit his photography. Victorian Collections lists a Rose postcard of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens credited to Neil and Stephen Cutts, and another Ballarat postcard credited to Stephen.¹²

On the road across Australia

Stephen’s sales work has taken him to every Australian state, with a particular focus on busy tourist regions. His customers have included newsagencies, convenience stores, supermarkets, visitor information centres, shops at tourist attractions and specialist independent retailers.

Decades of calling on these businesses give him first-hand knowledge of what sells, when and why. He sees the product, the supplier and the shop counter all at once.

Sourcing in China

Stephen first went to China accompanying Neil on sourcing trips, and has now made 49 visits. The family business attended the Canton Fair in Guangzhou throughout Stephen’s time with Rose Stereograph, from 1979 to 2018, as well as trade fairs in Shanghai and Hong Kong, sometimes making three overseas trips in a year. The focus was on choosing products for the coming Australian tourist season and keeping supplier relationships strong.

Stephen handled China sourcing himself, for the company and for other clients through it: selecting products, negotiating quantities and pricing, samples, and freight through customs. Over those years he sourced more than 100 different souvenirs, which the company shipped back and distributed to retailers all around Australia.

Stephen still holds the supply lines and contacts built through that work.

Rose Agencies

In 2019 Stephen established Rose Agencies. The Rose Stereograph wholesale business has since closed. Rose Agencies is a separate business that carries his experience forward through sales representation, long-standing customer relationships and connections with other wholesalers.

Over the years Stephen has also represented other brands, including Mad in Oz, Possi Group, Rigon Headwear and W.A. Jacobs Hatmaker. Today he sells for Local Bloke, Kato Designs, Sundowner Souvenirs and Souvenirs Australia, covering all of Australia for each.

Today Stephen continues as a travelling sales agent, working throughout the year. He enjoys the travel and the relationships, and regularly returns to Victoria to spend time with his family.

In 2021 the ABC reported on the historical Rose photographic collection, naming Stephen and Jeffery Cutts as its custodians.³ The collection is separate from Rose Agencies’ current work. Read more in the Rose Stereograph story.

How Stephen can help you

• Retailers: choosing ranges that suit your visitors, and setting up wholesale access. Find products
• Brands and makers: getting your range in front of Australian tourism and gift retailers. Sell in Australia
• Product ideas: talking through sourcing and development. Source & develop

Career details on this page come from Stephen and the Cutts family. Museum and news records are cited where they support a specific statement.

Footnotes

1. Victorian Collections: Rose postcard of Ballarat Botanical Gardens, crediting Neil and Stephen Cutts ↩

2. Victorian Collections: Rose postcard of Ballarat, crediting Stephen Cutts ↩

3. ABC News, 18 June 2021: significant collection of Australian photographs for sale ↩