Our Story
Made With Heart From Wellington to You
Hi, welcome to Rain New Zealand! I’m so glad to see you. My name is Fern Phoon and this is a story of a failed shopping attempt, a life changing philopsophy and some remarkable women in Cambodia – all woven into what you see here.
It started with a failed shopping attempt
It might seem like Rain New Zealand was birthed from my dining table in 2025 but the ploughing and planting had actually started many years before and Rain New Zealand, is simply an outworking of it all.
One key driver behind the start of Rain New Zealand was a failed shopping attempt.
I was looking for a bean bag for our home. It seemed straightforward enough except it wasn’t. There were plenty of bean bags to choose from but they were mainly plain coloured and a few had prints that didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
Where were the pretty beanbags, I wondered; the ones our eyes could gladly land on, not something to just be tolerated or made to blend into the background?
That was the seed of an idea that began germinating.
As the shape of the idea built up, its form was heavily influenced by other things that had been happening in my life.
A Philosophy That Changed My Life
My embrace of minimalism for one – a perspective that has changed my whole outlook on life. It introduced me to the (startling) idea that I don’t need more – I just need enough (what?!). I used to shop just because the sales were on, not because I specifically needed something. I mean, I did after all, spend many weekends in my growing up years, traipsing around mega malls.
Minimalism has taught me I don’t need a wardrobe overflowing with bargain clothes of questionable quality that I hardly wear. Instead, I can limit my wardrobe to quality pieces I feel good in and wear all the time.
All these thoughts helped form my thinking about what I want Rain New Zealand products to be.
Beautiful – for isn’t there something about beauty that just helps to gladden the heart and reminds us that there are good things to be thankful for?
And quality – robust and made to last so we’re not wasting resources and spending time and money on replacing things that had quickly broken with use. Quality should also mean good craftsmanship
Having said all that, please do only get our items if after careful consideration you think this will be useful to your household. I say that from the perspective of someone who has had to get rid of a lot of stuff (and still has too much in her house that needs to be sorted and removed!).
The last thing I want is for Rain New Zealand products to end up cluttering your home. Instead, my hope is that they would support your life and be a pleasure for you to use.
A team of remarkable women.....
Another vital piece to our story is this.
I wanted to get the beanbag covers (our first Rain New Zealand product) made but wasn’t entirely sure how I would go about it.
I considered different options and one of the options that came up was suggested by a lovely friend. She had just spent a few months volunteering in a social enterprise called Morijana in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Morijana works with vulnerable women and it was started to help women in a homeless community who were eking out a living from recycling rubbish and sending their children into the streets to beg. With Morijana, the ladies receive skills and a steady income and their children, an education– a safeguard from dangers such as sex trafficking. This was intriguing to us so my husband, Jin, and I packed up our family and went there for a visit in 2024.
As I said, we considered different options and I think it is fair to say we didn’t pick Morijana for their pricing. Morijana looks to equip these ladies to sew an item from start to finish so they could set up their own independent businesses in the future. It is hard to start up your own business if you only sew buttons or overlock seams. On the other hand, getting your workers to specialize and do just the one thing helps to make your production more efficient, which drives costs down.
Did I say we didn’t pick Morijana – or similar organisations – for their pricing? Well, I’ll say it again! The higher production cost is something we are acutely aware of and go into with our eyes wide open.
For more than a decade now, I find entrepreneurship to be something that lights a fire within me. As I age and journey through life, I now see that entrepreneurship also guves me the ability to play my part in the ecosystem where as people we are all dependent on each other.
Organisations like Morijana are helping women and children in practical ways that I admire. I’d never be able to do what they are doing but what I can do is to buy their sewing services to make Rain New Zealand products. The ladies then have a project to learn and solidify their sewing skills and of course, a steady income to bring home to the family. And if people find Rain New Zealand products to be supportive to their lives, we can continue buying the services, which will continue to support the people working in those organisations and their families and communities. And on and on it goes with each of us playing our parts.
I’m glad you dropped by and I hope you have a better sense now of what we do here at Rain New Zealand. We make products of beauty and quality to support your life – and the lives of those looking to make a better life for their families and communities.