Every day, Christina Perriam strives to make her late mother proud.
It was Heather Perriam - that dynamic stalwart of the rural community - who began the project to remodel the village.
Not content with settling on the success of her Merino Shop, which she opened in 1984, she wanted to see her beloved Tarras become a destination village.
Her aim was to attract not only passing tourists - the largest percentage of visitors to the township - but also to inspire people to travel long distances to visit.
Mrs Perriam invested a considerable amount at a time when the recession had many business owners pulling back on development to concentrate on survival.
Sadly, she never saw the project completed. Just a week before her death in February last year, after a short battle with cancer, she asked her daughter to "get the village humming".
"She knew we had to make Tarras unique. We had to be different from anyone else near us on the map." Christina Perriam (32) has been working hard to create enough product and diversity to make it a worthwhile destination for visitors, covering all markets.
At the same time, she has endeavoured to stay true to her mother's vision while also having her own modern twist - and it would appear to be paying dividends, with "exceptional" growth in customer numbers.
Many visitors expressed surprise in finding a modern retail facility in what most considered to be "the middle of nowhere".
In the summer, the car park was often overflowing and she anticipated planning for future amenities for the village, including parking, would be raised with the Central Otago District Council in the "not-too-distant" future.
The new-look retail hub includes a high-end fashion store selling Ms Perriam's own merino garments under the Christina Perriam label, the Tarras Country Store which stocks stylish kitchenware, gourmet foods and local produce; the House of Shrek Museum, a wine cellar, and the flagship Merino Shop and adjoining cafe.
Imelda De Freese runs and operates the Country Coffee Shop, which is a large drawcard because of the "fabulous" selection of food.
After handing the reins of the Tarras Country Store over to her cousin, Sarah Perriam, to manage, Ms Perriam has turned her attention to the Merino Shop.
She has rebranded it and is preparing to renovate the shop as well as establishing a website. She has reinvented Suprino, the superfine merino clothing label started by her mother, which will comprise classic tailored and elegant menswear, womenswear and knitwear for the more mature market.
She is also starting a children's wear brand, Suprino Bambino, believing there is a gap in that market in the area.
Her own Christina Perriam label is more fashion and trend orientated and she will soon release her winter collection.
Her focus now is on growing that brand - "That's where my passion is" - with her signature feminine and elegant garments.
Ms Perriam, who grew up on Bendigo Station and now lives in a renovated bach on the shores of Lake Dunstan with her much-loved dog Mimi, was always destined to be a fashion designer.
And, given her family's involvement in the fine-wool industry, there was always going to be a focus on merino fibre.
"Merino is part of who we are. It's a fantastic fibre: good quality, natural and sustainable. It's such a beautiful product to work with," she said.While a pupil at St Hilda's Collegiate, she had an opportunity to spend time in Tanya Carlson's design studio in Dunedin.
She graduated from Massey University with a bachelor of design degree and then spent two years with the Dunedin Fashion Incubator. She then opened a store in Wanaka, which gave her an insight into the retail world.
Two months spent in Italy as a young merino ambassador proved an eye-opening experience. She visited factories producing worsted cloth and spent time in a design house with a top Italian designer.
She drew inspiration from the way Italian women were "so beautifully styled" and she loved the experience so much that she knew travel had to be the next part of her plan.
She returned home with her mind made up that she wanted to learn more so headed to London for 18 months.
On Ms Perriam's return, she decided she "really wanted to get into" her Christina Perriam brand, which she had put on hold to go overseas - and missed. She designed a range, which was very successful, and started an online retail site.
But then her mother, her greatest supporter, got sick and her world turned upside down.
The pair shared a very close relationship.
Her mother's illness and death had a huge effect on her life and she now looked at life differently, she said.
With the realisation that life was short, she wanted to "think big and dream big".
"The world is your oyster if you can do it." She has a vision of opening more stores throughout New Zealand, both Christina Perriam and Merino Shop.
Tarras was a great place to build a prototype business which could then be replicated elsewhere, she said.
She credited her father, John, for her "entrepreneurship" streak. He was a man with big visions and big ideas and seeing him turn them into reality had a massive effect on her.
While acknowledging she was busy, Ms Perriam said she was still young and it was probably only the one time in her life when she would be able to "really put more than 100% into it". She was also conscious of the need to find the right work-life balance.
"But I love it too. I get up every day and love going to work. To me, it's not really a job, it's fun," she said.
Also in Tarras is the vintageware and fabric emporium Mrs Robinson, opened by Fiona Robinson in 2007, which had brought a "real different flavour" to the village and added another element.
The site, through the decades, has housed a blacksmith, grocery store and service station. Its latest reincarnation has proved enough of a drawcard on its own to inspire many Wanaka residents to make the hour-long round trip to Tarras, Ms Perriam said.
Mrs Robinson, who has worked at the top end of the interior design scene in London, said there were business as well as lifestyle advantages in "throwing your doors open in the middle of nowhere".
"Tarras was a lifestyle choice for us, as it suited every member of our family.
We enjoy being rural but have international traffic just outside our door.
"For visitors, there is much pleasure derived from enjoying the journey here, marvelling at the scenery and visiting the store. Also, there is the charm of being everyone's 'little secret' just out of the way," she said.
Many Central Otago residents now used Tarras as somewhere to take their out-of-town visitors, and farm and garden tour groups were also increasing.
For Ms Perriam, the past year had been the biggest learning curve in her life in terms of business.
Tarras was providing her with a "fantastic opportunity" to build businesses which, once systemised, she could expand to larger centres.
"As I said to a group of Mt Aspiring College children who visited on a school trip recently, 'Just because you are in a small place it doesn't mean you can't be a big operator."'
