The company was formed in December 6, 1929, by Michael Ambrosi in Regina, Saskatchewan, after buying out Broche. In the early days, Michaels mothers did the bookkeeping and bindery work. At the age of thirty, Michael married a woman named Bernice, and together they had three children (a step-daughter and two sons). Michael worked full time, and it wasn’t until after his death that any of his children took an interest in the business, with son Phil Ambrosi taking over the work. The company prided itself on traditional craftsmanship and quality work. Ambrosi Printer’s expertise lay in letterpress printing which involved the casting of type using hot metal on a Ludlow Typograph machine. All of the equipment was entirely mechanical and had no electronic controls at all. For years, Ambrosi Printers not only printed directly for customers, but also cast and sold a very wide variety of hot metal type set on a Ludlow machine to other printers all across North America.
The company was one of the last Printers around that cast type using the Ludlow Typograph system and at one time had well over 1200 fonts for customers to choose from. Type was set using three Ludlow machines while printing was one using the shop’s four Heidelbergs.
Primarily, the company printed or imprinted the following items or provided: Foreign Language Business Cards & Stationery; General Business & Professional Stationery; All Kind of Die Cutting – Memoriam Cards -Prayer Cards; Poetry Cards – Mini Jigsaw Puzzles – Serviettes; Crash printing (front & back) – Grain Bags – Paper Bags; Legal Seals – Notion Bags – Notorial Seals – Rubber Stamps; Photo Mounts – Envelopes from Drug to X-Ray; Place Cards for Banquets; All Kinds of Numbering with Figures to 6? high; Blockout & Re-Print; Imprint Folded Brochures – Imprint File Folders
Ambrosi Printers, the last remaining manual printer in the province, closed its doors in December 2014 after 85 years in business.