Bringing the world home
NKBA’s Rachael Kwok reflects on a design industry punching above its weight.
As a small country at the bottom of the globe, New Zealand could be forgiven for leaning heavily on local design traditions. Yet, the reality for many of our kitchen and bathroom designers is the constant pursuit of professional development to stay on top of global trends and keep pace with the rest of the world.
The centre for international design education and excellence is Milan, Italy, which hosts the Salone del Mobile Milano every two years. The largest and most prestigious interior design fair in the world and a major event for the furniture and design industry, the fair attracts over 370,000 visitors. Many New Zealand designers and suppliers travel to the fair, forging strong international relationships and returning with fresh ideas and insights. These connections help bring exclusive products and design trends into Kiwi homes.
Closer to home but equally impactful is the NKBA Design Tour. Held for the first time in June 2025, over 70 New Zealand designers gathered to explore Melbourne’s dynamic showroom scene and learn directly from
top Australian design minds. While there, we also attended the Kitchen+Bath Show along with 12,500 other design professionals – an invaluable source of professional development opportunities.
In addition to inspiration gleaned from overseas trips, our kitchen and bathroom designers also gather ideas online from the varied world of social media. No need to hop on a plane – much of our inspiration nowadays comes from a computer or phone screen. In fact, many of our kitchen designers are influencers themselves, building a following of thousands across the globe.
New Zealand kitchen and bathroom designers value international design exposure, and many of their kitchens and bathrooms feature products and materials sourced from overseas. I have heard stories from designers who have flown to Europe to source a rare piece of Italian stone for a benchtop, a tile from Spain or cabinetry from Germany, resulting in bespoke spaces that sit outside the box with a unique, cosmopolitan vibe.
Despite our geographic isolation, New Zealand kitchen and bathroom designers have earned their place on the world stage. In fact, NKBA designers regularly win international design awards. Take, for example, Celia Visser, who has twice won a Society of British and International Interior Design award.
New Zealand may be small, but the scale and sophistication of our design talent is not. We absolutely hold our own on the international design scene.
