Interior designer Stephen Burke took his half of Queenstown business Foster and Burke Design to Sydney in 2006 while he studied part-time for a Diploma of Interior Design at the Commercial Arts Training College.
He also viewed the move as an opportunity to mine design knowledge and products in Sydney, and exploit a niche he and business partner Jean Foster identified after completing some work for Australian commercial clients in Queenstown.
"We felt there was room for a personalised service for Australians buying into the Queenstown market."
And the transtasman nature of their business, with Mr Burke in Sydney and Mrs Foster in Queenstown, is also contributing to its success.
Mr Burke is presently designing the interior of a holiday home being built in Queenstown by a Sydney-based Australian couple.
"That [project] means a lot to me. It kind of proves to me that this was a good move."
While the company works on a mixture of residential and commercial projects, most of the business in Australia so far has been in designing office spaces.
In Queenstown, Mr Burke mainly did residential work, although he also designed the restaurant and bar at the Oaks Shores on Frankton Rd.
The main differences between Sydney and Queenstown were the access to products and the presence of a larger interior design community, Mr Burke said.
There was not a great deal of difference in design styles but, particularly in residential design, there was more money in Sydney, which led to wider briefs for designers.
Making the transition from Queenstown to Sydney had not been without its challenges, Mr Burke said.
"It has been exhausting and stressful. I didn't know anyone. I was completely flying by the seat of my pants. I had to get out there and meet suppliers, meet the people in the same business."
But in two years he has found his feet, and Foster and Burke have designed an office space in all of Australia's major cities.
Interior design was a far cry from the insurance industry in which he worked for 10 years before joining an art gallery, and then Mrs Foster's company Total Interiors, but he was very happy with his choice of career and now with his new Sydney base.
"I love the city, love the cafe culture, and my place at Potts Point, in the eastern suburbs. It's close to the beaches, suppliers and art galleries.
"It's the lifestyle I love . . . Queenstown was more transient, more party-based, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm not really a party-based person."
The Queenstown export is also winning in the awards stakes. He completed his diploma last week and received high distinction for his work. He was also the first part-time student to win the diploma's excellence in technical strength and creativity award.
Mrs Foster said she was thrilled for Mr Burke.
