Fabric of NZ life is a winner in the US

Edwin Rysenbury relaxes on a couch in Mokum's Auckland showroom. At home, the couch is often taken over by the family dog, Jasper. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Fabrics carry the characteristics of their homelands - and New Zealand is no different, says Mokum Textiles managing director Edwin Rysenbury.

When his company expanded into the United States three years ago, the Downunder look proved to be the products' point of difference and, judging by the sales figures, it is something Americans like.

"All textiles are designed from a cultural point of view, from a lifestyle point of view," says Rysenbury.

"Our lifestyle is quite relaxed and quite contemporary - a different quality of life, a different quality of light, our colours are different."

Mokum, a finalist in the Designers Institute's Design in Business Awards next week, now has 11 showrooms distributing its products in the US.

It also has five showrooms in Australia, one in Auckland and satellite showrooms in Wellington, Christchurch and Perth.

Last year, the company's US sales increased four-fold from what was, admittedly, a small base.

Rysenbury says Mokum, which employs about 80 people, is a market leader in Australasia. His vision is to use fabric to spread this country's way of life.

"Textiles and interior design clothe the environment that we live in," says Rysenbury. "Our way of life down here is different and it's really nice to be able to communicate that to a wider market, a global market - and they love it."

The firm "dabbled" in the US market for the first couple of years and was unsure what the reaction would be to its collections designed in-house.

"We went up there just to see if they liked it," he says. "They thought it was fantastic and, from that point on, it really accelerated."

Rysenbury has worked in the textile industry for his entire career, growing up around his father's retail drapery businesses.

His first job, at 15, was washing the shop floors every weekend and he worked in the family business for several years after studying commerce at the University of Auckland.

Rysenbury set up a textile wholesaling operation in 1979 with his brother, Michael, who has since retired, and the company expanded into Australia in the mid-1980s.

"It was a huge adventure, a different business from retailing," recalls Rysenbury.

The company bought and sold stock, until it had the scale to transform into its design and distribution model.

In 2002, Mokum bought Australian company Loop.

With the company's increasing size, it became possible to launch its first collection of fabrics designed in-house, a division that now makes up more than 50 per cent of the business.

Setting up the design studio, which is based in Sydney, fulfilled a dream Rysenbury had for years.

Although his family home is not flashy - "we don't live the lifestyle at all that we show in our showroom" - it does have Mokum fabrics.

"Our couch has been with us for a long time. The dog climbs over it and the children and their mates in the rugby team flop all over it at the weekend," he says. "We don't change it nearly as much as we should."