Pyrotechnics whiz Fortunato Foti will be standing on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at midnight on New Year's Eve with his finger on the button ready to unleash the world's biggest fireworks celebrations into the night sky.
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The Foti family has been making the spectacular fireworks displays to usher in the New Year in Sydney for the past 13 years, always creating something more exciting and different than the last.
Fortunato Foti – Forch, as he's affectionately known - said the world-renowned event was the result of months of work, testing and creating new effects to dazzle the crowds for the 9PM Family Fireworks and the Midnight Fireworks displays.
"Being on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the fireworks display is exhilarating," Mr Foti said.
"It's very stressful, but once the fireworks start, and the crowds roar, the relief kicks in and I enjoy the moment. The attraction for us is really the joy we bring to the countless millions of people we entertain each year with our art and the satisfaction of putting smiles on their faces, regardless of their age."
Foti officially opened their new state-of-the-art pyrotechnic complex at Marulan, just north of Goulburn, in 2008.
Set on 200 acres it provides a storage facility and a manufacturing capacity unparalleled in Australia.
The New Year’s Eve fireworks, however, were manufactured at the Foti family’s Leppington facility on Sydney’s south western outskirts.
People can expect a new approach to this year's fireworks displays as the Foti team embrace new ideas and bring new fireworks designs to life, with the help of NYE12 Creative Ambassador, Kylie Minogue.
Kylie's Embrace icon - a swirl of coloured sails in magenta, yellow, purple and red - will inspire this year's event, along with a host of never-before-seen fireworks designs including bees, birds, hands and feet.
"For us, the display is about making it different to previous years and coming up with designs that haven't been seen before," Mr Foti said.
"The 9PM Family Fireworks are designed with children in mind so we try to make it fun. The midnight show is grander still. One thing we try to achieve is to make both shows spectacular."
A crucial part of both displays for Foti Fireworks is choreographing the fireworks to music, which has to be planned down to the second to achieve a symphony of sound and light throughout the display.
"The choreography is a big part of the planning process, but it's worth it when we see the atmosphere it creates the moment the fireworks begin," Mr Foti said.
"The soundtrack is integral as we design the show to flow with the mood of the music. In a nutshell, we try to make the fireworks dance to the songs."
Two Sydney schoolgirls - Aisha Agha, 7, and Aimee Crosland, 13 - won a design competition with their ideas for dazzling firework designs, which will also be seen lighting up the sky in the 9PM Family Fireworks.
"I think the secret is to design a show with heart and have a good quality product, knowing that you are like any other performer and you have to entertain the people watching," Mr Foti said.
The Foti family have been in the fireworks business in Australia since arriving from Italy in the 1950s.
"The current generation is the seventh to be involved in fireworks," Mr Foti said.
"For us it's a passion, with eight family members involved here in Australia as well as cousins in Italy still doing fireworks. You could say it's in the blood."
To download the NYE12 smartphone app, visit sydneynewyearseve.com/app or search your app store for 'Sydney New Year's Eve'.