Elisabeth Koch said the hats that sell well are the really crazy ones and the ones that are not super-exciting, the two extremes. Photos provided to China Daily

That quickly developed into a business making 150 hats a year, ranging in price from $250 to $800. The wackier creations include a hat with a tarantula perched on top, another featuring a cup of tea and specially-made numbers for movie stars such as Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bing Bing.

"Before coming to China, I went to millinery school with the idea that I am going to move to China and this is what I am going to do. I had never been to China in my whole life and suddenly here we were. I did not do any market research, maybe that was stupid."

Koch discovered she had a natural knack for generating publicity; the local Chinese press was particularly intrigued by an expatriate who made dazzlingly original and sometimes wacky headwear. Koch also drummed up interest by staging fashion shows in hotels, often with support from sponsors.

News of her skills led to interest from the corporate world, with commissions to do one-off numbers for special events. InterContinental hotel and resorts hired Koch to create a series of hats that illustrated the topic of China's ancient cities, which resulted in head-gear that was in the shape of temples, lanterns and and city walls. The hats were later auctioned to raise funds for the World Wildlife Fund.

Interest also came from a Chinese company, Hatters' Hub, which has seven stores throughout the country. They offered her the post of creative director with the aim of adding some international pizzazz to their collections and also suggested a joint venture tailor making classy hats.

Koch operates out of the Elisabeth Koch Millinery Studio in a Beijing branch of Hatters' Hub and is currently formulating plans for further expansion, including the hiring of up to six workers to help with the sewing.

Her husband van Lawick van Pabst also caught the entrepreneurial bug while living in China, quitting the Dutch diplomatic service to launch a company that concentrates on clean-energy initiatives.

The couple have two children who were both born in the city. The oldest, Bernadette, 4, attends local kindergarten and speaks fluent Chinese, with the youngest, Diederik.

The family is planning a long-term stay in the city with Koch eager to develop and expand the business. She is, by her own admission, something of a late entrant into the fashion field; before launching the hat business she worked briefly as a journalist and then forged a career in banking, focusing on the marketing side.

"I have been making things since I was born, my entire family is creative. I was the black sheep in a cubicle at a bank and they felt sorry for me.

"My family and others often ask me why I am in China and why I like it. There are problems, but the people here in Beijing are great, they are real people. It is like any society - yes there are huge cultural differences, but just like in other societies you have the cool guy, the nerd and the joker."