Your Decal Shop is our family business. Antony, Jess, Lola and Olly reside in the beautiful Hawkes Bay – Aotearoa New Zealand where they are fortunate to combine their lifestyle and work into one. Antony had studied and worked in Architecture and Product Design, but the call of the big OE (Overseas Experience!) beckoned and in 2006 he decided to leave New Zealand, traveling the world and playing music before finally landing an internship in Dresden Germany, working for an interior wall decoration company. Antony quickly learnt the language to fluency and after two years and three promotions he became the Head of Product Development with over 200 people in his team. This challenging role entailed leading the design and creation of innovative interior wall decoration products for the European market.

As exciting as life in Europe could be the call of home shores was strong, so a holiday was booked to catch up with friends and family in Aotearoa after a five year absence. With a study background in History, Jess was working in Training and Education at Unitec, and she has a keen eye for all things that look beautiful. Back home, eating fish and chips on the beach and catching up with family and friends Antony met Jess while on a walk from Muriwai to Bethells on Auckland’s scenic west coast. The couple instantly hit it off, but soon realised Antony only had three weeks left in NZ before he left to return to overseas. To Antony’s amazement and excitement, Jess sold her car, handed in her resignation and bought a ticket to join him in Europe.

Back in Germany, they traveled a lot and Antony kept developing the role in his company. One year later in 2012, true homesickness kicked in and the realisation for both that it was time to come back to New Zealand for good. Jess soon found employment in Auckland as a training coordinator for Bayley’s Real Estate but Antony simply couldn’t find a job using the skills and knowledge honed in Germany. While sitting on Mission Bay beach (in his suit, straight after yet another job interview) the light-bulb moment occurred. Antony didn’t need to find a new job….he needed to create one! As fledgling businesses go this was a Kiwi classic. Antony had some big ideas, little budget and just a laptop to make some eye catching designs not knowing what may come of each design pitch. He decided when it came to creating decals for the NZ market, they were not going to be tacky or dated and the focus would not be on quantity, but quality.

After some very long days and nights of design development, he placed a few decals on TradeMe. His experience and persistence had paid off, the next morning he woke to his first order. Sourcing only the best vinyl from Europe, Antony began designing unique and desirable decals that combined a mix of art and graphic imagery exclusive to New Zealand but attractive to the world.

With the arrival of their little girl Lola, they decided the best way forward was growing the business together, so Jess joined the team full-time continuing to build the company from the ground up in Hawkes Bay. With the help of amazing brands jumping on board and customers raving about the products, features in magazines and TV shows soon followed. Your Decal Shop has become a successful brand in NZ and in overseas markets – a long way from a humble start with a laptop on the end of the bed.

As their young family grows, children Lola and Olly have become the toughest in-house critics of each new design. But something that will never change is the desire to create stunning and unique designs that are made to order to ensure quality over quantity. As their design studio in ‘The Bay’ buzzes with energy, Your Decal Shop team continues to grow and create the decals they love, to enhance the interior spaces you love.