Raglan might seem an unlikely location from which a couple of Germans would choose to start a business together. But for Thomas Wessling and Bjorn Ledwig - the directors of window firm Ecowindows - it made perfect sense.
Ledwig has been based for almost 20 years in the coastal town, where he was running the local Raglan Joinery; he and Wessling first met while Wessling was in his former role as marketing manager of Ledwig's main hardware supplier in Germany.
"My family and I had travelled through New Zealand quite a lot, and my wife and I even got married in Christchurch in 2000, but we'd never been to Raglan before. We eventually came here in 2010, and once we saw it we fell in love with it," explains Wessling.
"Bjorn had been doing more traditional joinery, but we decided there was an opportunity for a business that focused on using a very energy efficient German system. I had access to the hardware through my former company and my network of other suppliers in Germany, and Bjorn brought his knowledge of making windows. That's how we joined together to start Ecowindows in 2011."