David Trubridge's Hawke's Bay-made products find ready markets overseas.
BEHIND the doors of a bright, modern showroom is where the magic happens.
A workspace, distribution and design room in Whakatu forms the epicentre of business and eco-friendly innovation for David Trubridge - a brand manufactured locally but recognised globally.
Trubridge's polycarbonate wing light feature, Icarus, hangs at the famous Pompidou Centre in Paris; a beautiful coil installation titled Neptune's Necklace was commissioned for Westfield Mall in Culver City, US; and an ethereal layer of cloud lights grace the new Gibson Centre at Christchurch's Rangi Ruru Girls' School.
His lights and furniture have appeared on the set of American science-fiction drama Extant starring Halle Berry.
They also add intrigue and elegance to Kiwi airports, hotels, malls and high end stores such as Louis Vuitton in Auckland.
Impeccable design is synonymous with the name which leapt on to the world stage in 2001 after being discovered by Italian design house Cappellini.
The Body Raft recliner was first to be spotted at a trade show in Milan and licensed for worldwide distribution.
Lighting came later and happened almost by accident when Trubridge was experimenting with geometry during a workshop in Australia and decided the creation could work with a light inside.
So the Coral shade was born in 2003 - it is still their biggest seller followed by Floral, Kina and Kura shades, all of which were inspired by shapes seen in nature.
The range has grown to include 460 styles including various colours and sizes of the same model - and it's not the only area to show significant growth.
Profit has quadrupled in five years thanks to a combination of clever marketing and system changes, including improvements to the website and opening of a showroom in Hawke's Bay.
They now have 23 employees and distributors in Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia - their biggest market is the US, an area which continues to evolve.
Trubridge and business manager Josh Lynch returned to Italy for Milan Design Week last month - their 13th time exhibiting at the annual event which first put his designs on the map.
"It's about expanding current markets, we have high-level distributors but America is huge," Lynch says. "In the States we could in all honesty be one thousand times larger - we are only scratching the surface."
Much of the company's appeal offshore came down to uniqueness and New Zealand's clean, green image which has been popularised by the likes of Lord of the Rings.
Trubridge travels as much as possible to spread the word of their own clean, green story.
Within New Zealand they try not to flood the market - selecting just one or two major stockists in each centre.
In 2011 the company initiated a re-thinking of it's packaging after taking the renowned Coral light through a "life cycle" assessment, something which continues to guide their design processes.
Shifting to kitset for home assembly dramatically reduces the volume of shipped product, and is named the seed system.
"Ninety-five per cent of our business is kitset...it used to cost $760 assembled to ship to Australia, now it's $32 and that's a saving we can pass on.
"$1 in here is $10 retail we don't want customers paying, we try to keep costs as tight as we can. "
Trubridge has equal representation in residential and contract markets, with their cheapest light selling for $250 and the most expensive reaching $18,000.
The biggest order ever filled came in at a quarter of a million dollars, but they deliver $100,000 worth of product on a fairly regular basis.
Pendant lights are made from ethically sourced bamboo plywood, an offshoot from the Chinese food industry.
"They grow bamboo shoots for cooking and plant larger bamboo to shield the smaller ones, those larger plants would normally be cut down and left there, but we have a factory which turns them into sheets.
"Rather than buying direct from China, we buy from a distributer based in Pahiatua - we like to support New Zealand where we can."
Many of the lights maintain their natural finish, others are spray painted by a Hastings company to achieve various colourways, or hand dipped plain black at the Whakatu site.
The workshop goes through about 4000 sheets of bamboo every year with minimal waste.
Any offcuts are sent to feed a clean burner at Panpac which burns at 2000C, producing energy to run the plant; while aluminium shavings are collected using a magnet then recycled when they have enough.
Silicon sachets have been replaced with bamboo charcoal pouches in order to keep moisture from damaging the kitsets while maintaining an eco-friendly ethos.
The company is also in the process of obtaining an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to offer a higher level of transparency.
Once complete they will be the first company in Australasia to qualify - allowing their products to be used in buildings with strict environmental credentials such as those upheld by the LEED building system in America.
Trubridge-designed Snowflake and Nikau lights were recently recognised at the 2015 Red Dot design awards in Europe.
It is the most prestigious recognition of excellence in international lighting, and adds to an already award-winning collection.
Snowflake was initially dreamed up during a trip to Antarctica and spills geometric hexagonal patterns across the walls when lit.
Nikau is based on New Zealand's only indigenous palm tree, originally used for thatching and weaving - reflected in shadows it throws out.
Unfortunately the distinctive nature of designs doesn't protect against copycats, with Australian Intellectual Property laws more lenient than those in Europe and the US.
Across the ditch adding the word "replica" to a product allows others to sell fakes and still use the 'David Trubridge' name in marketing.
A cheap Chinese knock-off of their 400mm Coral light with natural finish will set you back $289 compared to $322 for the original.
Dollar wise there's little in it, but the quality is incomparable - it's about educating people to make informed decisions, Trubridge says.
"What people don't realise is that we use environmentally sound processes and constantly improve on our designs and production techniques, whereas the Chinese fakes make them in factories with no filtration, no air cleaning, cheap materials," he adds.
Despite copies competing with his quality lights, Australia accounts for 21 per cent of global sales.
Back in Hawke's Bay new prototypes are being thought up every day, including a backlit wall screen trialled for reaction in Milan, with success.
"People just say 'wow', they haven't seen anything like it" Lynch says.
A testament to Kiwi creativity and ingenuity, Trubridge continues to surprise even those most familiar with his work.