About Us | Firework Professionals for world-class firework displays

Firework Professionals – the story so far

Hannover

Firework Professionals is a second generation pyrotechnic display fireworks company based in New Zealand. We’ve been producing pyrotechnic displays and supplying quality commercial fireworks for over forty years now.

Founded in the 1970’s, Firework Professionals is a group of highly skilled and experienced pyrotechnic experts and enthusiasts based in Otautahi-Christchurch. Dozens of trained crews and colleagues throughout New Zealand support the full-time team.

Our work includes producing professional fireworks displays and pyromusicals, and supplying indoor and outdoor pyrotechnics for commercial displays and special effects for the film and TV industry. We provide qualified, experienced local technical support for international touring productions and concerts.

For those interested in learning the art, Firework Professional offer comprehensive training courses for all skill levels – from novices to experienced techs needing certification, upgrades and refresher courses to keep up with the latest techniques, innovations and regulations. Firework Professionals is proud to still be at the forefront of the NZ pyrotechnics industry.

We’re passionate about our work, and our experience, knowledge and reputation has lead to us hosting and attending international conferences, training overseas students, contributing to industry research and publications, and competing in international firework musical competitions. In 2018 we travelled to Germany for the Hannover International Fireworks Competition and won second prize against four local teams from Europe.

Firework Professionals is a full-time team, providing firework displays 365 days a year. The fortnight around November 5th is traditionally our busiest time, along with New Year’s Eve, and more recently Matariki, and we encourage communities to celebrate milestones and special events in all seasons with professional firework displays.

Professional fireworks are more affordable than you might have thought. A fireworks display, special effects, fireworks simulators or confetti and streamer can add something special to your event. Contact us to discuss your next special occasion.

News and Events

Waste reduction and recycling

It is possible to love fireworks and to care for the environment, and Firework Professionals is focused on achieving our sustainability goals. We’ve devised some really effective methods for reducing waste. The soft plastics used for rain protection for the fireworks are removed before the show if there's no sign of bad weather, and reused at the next display. Cardboard boxes and packaging are...

Here we are in 2020!

As we move out of the busy pyro season, we'd like to thank all the clients that we've had the pleasure of working with over the summer on festivals, fundraisers, annual events, and special occasions public and private. Communities the length of the country have enjoyed dozens of professional displays to cap off evenings of togetherness and family fun. Traditonally summer has always been the...

small shells, good for small private events like birthday fireworks

Pyrotechnic Training

Firework Professionals recently held our first outdoor pyrotechnics training course for 2019. The course comprised of theory covering product knowledge, health and safety and regulatory requirements, as well as the hands on rigging and firing of ground and aerial effects. The firing is undoubtedly everyone's favourite part of the course when the magic of pyrotechnics is experienced first hand,...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

It's been a busy few months for us here at Firework Professionals. The weekend around November 5th is always a popular time for community firework displays, and FPL supplied and fired dozens of beautiful fireworks displays all around the country. With some unseasonally bad weather hitting the whole country, it was a trying weekend for our crews battling the elements, but we pulled through and...

Hannover International Fireworks Competition

Firework Professionals had the honour of competing at the 28th Hanover International Fireworks Competition in Germany in September. International competitions are always so much fun for us and for the audiences. A lot of work goes into creating a pyromusical, and there were plenty of challenges putting together the 22 minute show – the biggest coming from working remotely with unfamiliar...

Street parade streamers in the deep South

To celebrate a proud region's amazing sporting successes over the winter, the Invercargill City Council organised a street parade with streamers (ticker tape). At short notice, Firework Professionals delivered hundreds of streamer tubes to the community to hand out for their celebrations. The great thing about streamers is that there are always a bunch of resourceful kids collecting these...

Fireworks for Canterbury Crusaders Super Rugby Win

What a season it's been for our home side the Canterbury Crusaders. Firework Professionals has been on hand at all the home games providing red coloured smokes for the team's entrance to the field. For finals night we were part of the half-time entertainment, with our Le Maitre and Ultratech proximate pyrotechnics lighting up the infield. And when the cup was presented to the winning team,...

Fireworks from Lyttelton to Hannover

Always a highlight of our winter calendar, the crew fired the fireworks display at "The Lyttleton Harbour Festival of Lights" street party on June 29th, with more than ten thousand revellers enjoying an evening of light, creativity and fireworks. Though this year's show was tinged with great sadness for us, following the recent passing of our founder Anthony Lealand, in a fitting finale a dozen...

Sparks 2018

Firework Professionals Ltd create another beautiful firework display at the 35th annual “Sparks” with the CSO in Hagley Park, Christchurch. A brief history of this pyromusical event.

Fireworks as Jacinda Adern opens the Rutherford Building

Fireworks as Jacinda Ardern opens the Rutherford Building

Firework Professional Ltd provided the sparkle when the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern opened the University of Canterbury’s Earnest Rutherford Building on 15 February.

New Year’s Eve and into 2018

Happy New Year! New Year's Eve is always one of the busiest nights of the pyro calendar and this year was no exception, with technicians working all over the country. Firework Professionals fired shows as far north as Whangarei and as far south as Cardrona to the enjoyment of thousands of revelers. Fireworks really are a spectacular way to ring in the New Year. (Photo courtesy of Rhythm & Alps)...

New Brighton Pier Fireworks 2017

"Star Wars" Fireworks - New Brighton Pier, Christchurch. For the 40th anniversary of this genre defining classic we designed this year's Treetech Guy Fawkes Fireworks Spectacular pyromusical with a "Star Wars" theme. There are a lot of logistics to consider when producing pyromusicals. The venue the most important. With post-earthquake repair work to the pier underway, set up space was limited...

Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights 2017

The Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights 2017 was another great night, with a big enjoying the party, despite the weather doing its best to deter. Firework Professionals has been firing the fireworks show at Port Lyttelton for over a decade now. It's one of our favourite winter events and one that many of our trainees have worked on to get experience of working in tricky conditions. In previous...

Blessing of the fleet 2017 starshells Nelson

Nelson Blessing of the Fleet 2017 – Mid winter fireworks

Nelson fireworks for Annual Fleet Blessing A large crowd enjoyed the Nelson Blessing of the Fleet 2017 fireworks, now in its 17th year. Blessing ceremonies for fishing fleets are common around the world, though there are few that regularly hold a fireworks display. The show is fired from a barge off Wakefield Quay, with significant advantages over land based shows, with unobstructed view to the...

Confetti and Streamers for The 2017 Americas Cup

After Emirates Team New Zealand's victory in the 2017 Americas Cup, Firework Professionals Ltd provided confetti and streamers for numerous parades and events on the cups tour across the country. Each event was a little different, and the delivery methods were highly varied. In Auckland, waves of metallic streamers were thrown by the crowd lining the streets. As well, the sailors had boxes of...

Kidsfest 2017 – close proximity fireworks

For Kidsfest In July 2017 we fired a little show in Christchurch's Margaret Mahy Playground, memorable for the crowd as it included one of our rarely seen Maltese firework wheels. This wheel was last used at a Cashel St mall display in 2013. It's an unusual contraption, loaded with colored firework lances, electrically powered for reliable and safe "rocket free" operation, which means it can be...