Sydney’s leading supplier of curtains, blinds, shutters and awnings is a family business established more than 40 years ago. Today the business is managed by father and daughter team, Richard and Samantha Kraus.

Richard’s story…

At the ripe young age of 29, Richard applied for a job at David Jones as a Floor manager. Having no previous retail experience, the only position available was in the soft furnishing section. After just a few months working, learning and asking lots of questions from his peers about blinds and curtains, he took it in his stride to set out on his own – 42 years on, still going strong!

Richard started the company with the business name ‘Image 80’s’ (named after a fabric collection at the time). Over the years, the company changed name two more times, with its final name change in 2005 to ‘Sunteca’ – which it still remains today.

At the time he was the salesman, installer and general dogsbody of the company, with his mum Beryl who became his sewing lady. She would sit in their garage using her small sewing machine to make all the blinds and curtains herself!

Once the business grew and Beryl couldn’t keep up with the orders, he opened his first showroom in Willoughby and began outsourcing his products from some of Australia’s best manufacturing companies.

Even though the days of his showroom being open are well and truly over, he saw the benefits of WFH (working from home) before it was even a thing, and today has a number of sales reps and installers who work for him.

Throughout his journey Richard has always stayed true to his beliefs in supporting small business and staying local.

Samantha’s story…

Working in the family business was never something I saw myself doing growing up. Being a creative, I am always having new ideas and big dreams.

It was during COVID time that I started working for Sunteca. We were one of the lucky industries that thrived during this time, as everyone was working from home, not travelling and had extra money to spend on renovating their homes.

At this point my dad was struggling with how much work was coming in and being a small business, we only had a handful of workers to get everything done. He almost sold the business.

At the time, I was working in Education so decided to put a hold on my career to help him out until things settled down, while also seeing if this was a good career path for me to continue.

After two years, I can honestly say that it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

The joy I get from visiting clients either in their residential homes or commercial spaces, allows me to stay creative while never getting bored! Every day is a new and exciting day.

My dad has had the business for over 40 years and it is the love and honesty that he puts into it that keeps the business alive. I can only hope to continue the legacy he started and keep putting as much love into every project. I hope you can see that in our photos, from the work we do.