{"id":417604,"date":"2026-05-08T07:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/417604\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T07:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:24:08","slug":"fujifilm-house-of-photography-opens-in-albany-as-flagship-creative-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/417604\/","title":{"rendered":"Fujifilm House of Photography opens in Albany as flagship creative hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PeterPeter Bonisch, general manager of imaging solutions at Fujifilm New Zealand, stands in front of a historical photograph gallery featuring photos from the New Zealand Herald. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

Fujifilm New Zealand\u2019s general manager of imaging solutions, Peter Bonisch, said sales of the company\u2019s Instax product \u2013 which includes a camera that produces instant photos \u2013 had more than doubled in the last five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been driven by new people coming into photography, particularly different generations wanting to get in connection with photography more now than ever,\u201d Bonisch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just for professionals, it\u2019s for hobbyists, content creators and so many more. So that\u2019s really driven a lot of it, and more recently that analogue surge that we\u2019ve seen in the last 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that five years ago, the company had thought sales of Instax had reached their peak, so the growth had come as a surprise.<\/p>\n

That local growth was also part of the reason Fujifilm\u2019s parent chose to invest, with New Zealand managing director Stephen Hodson candidly sharing how a 15-minute meeting with the company\u2019s second in command, Masato \u201cMark\u201d Yamamoto, was enough to get approval for the project.<\/p>\n

\"JapaneseJapanese Ambassador to New Zealand Makato Osawa (left), Peter Bonisch of Fujifilm NZ and Masato “Mark” Yamamoto at the opening of Fujifilm’s House of Photography. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

Yamamoto was in attendance for the site\u2019s opening, travelling from Japan for his second visit to New Zealand within two years.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance for the launch was the Japanese Ambassador to New Zealand Makato Osawa, who had flown from Wellington for the event.<\/p>\n

Their presence was not lost on Bonisch, who highlighted the important connection between New Zealand and Japan, while acknowledging the \u201chuge support\u201d that had been offered by the company\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\"AA traditional Japanese sake ceremony at the opening of Fujifilm House of Photography, an interactive space for visual storytellers at Fujifilm. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

Construction started on the site around nine months ago, with the company\u2019s roughly 50 staff relocated upstairs into dedicated office space.<\/p>\n

Bonisch was upfront as to why the company chose to develop the site at Albany, and said if the company had done it anywhere else, the price would have been much higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been very fortunate to do it in a corporate building, and that makes things a lot easier than otherwise, but it\u2019s been a significant investment, unseen in any other project we\u2019ve done of this nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the way we look at it is it\u2019s not an investment in now, it\u2019s an investment in the next 10 years, and I suppose that\u2019s the payoff for us that we\u2019re saying this is here for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he wanted to make it clear the space was not designed to be a retail environment, but instead as a hub for the photographic community to gather.<\/p>\n

Part of encouraging that community will be the hosting of events and classes at the site, with a focus on encouraging young photographers to lean into the experience.<\/p>\n

\" Fujifilm New Zealand’s House of Photography gives enthusiasts access to the company’s wide range of cameras and technology, as well as a look at a 1982 Ducati motorcycle loaned by the company’s landlord. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Having been with Fujifilm New Zealand for 21 years, Bonisch has experienced the rise and fall of various trends throughout his career, but said the business was confident current trends would persist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing now is a real move back to photography because it\u2019s so authentic in terms of what it provides people. People are looking for time away from their devices, and photography is one of those hobbies that they want to invest in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have questioned it along the way, but the surge we\u2019ve seen in the last two years in particular gives us real confidence that it\u2019s going to continue to grow and that\u2019s why making the investment into something like the House of Photography is to help grow that and inspire more people into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter Bonisch, general manager of imaging solutions at Fujifilm New Zealand, stands in front of a historical photograph…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[214659,41009,442,498,499,500,806,3952,49063,33118,501,156,61463,19991,3158,10053,6215,78,1132,130,111,139,529,69,1118,1864,2680,5296,3263,18484,12633,131,83061,102,80],"class_list":["post-417604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-1100sq","tag-albany","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-as","tag-aucklands","tag-companys","tag-creative","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-flagship","tag-fujifilm","tag-headquarters","tag-house","tag-hub","tag-in","tag-million","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-opened","tag-opens","tag-photography","tag-project","tag-shore","tag-spent","tag-than","tag-transforming","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}