As the founders of dazzly (Marcus Feeney and Lewis Anderson) we like to promote good business. Having used our new website builder platform for a couple of months now, Thomas Henry, from Rā Designs in Dunedin, was happy to take the time out to have a chat with us and help get the word out to everyone in Aotearoa about upping their design game and getting online with dazzly.

Thomas has been running Rā Designs for 3 years now but has spent the past 10 years building up his reputation and amassing a long list of successful projects. He graduated in 2013, but that was only the beginning of his learning. He’s been taking on as many jobs as he feasibly can to continuously improve his skills and experience. This is reflected in the large variety of work and his all-around extensive portfolio which can be seen on his website. Family is another big driver for Thomas, a value we also share at dazzly. There is a clear energy and passion that goes into what Thomas does and he loves using his skills to help others – “the more meaning and story you have, the more emotional and passionate the client can get, and I love the reactions when I show someone a logo and explain all the meanings in it.”. This guy exudes passion.


Gallery Page on Rā Designs Website


Rā Designs, aptly named as the word for “Sun” in Maori and Polynesian culture, being the source of light, colour and energy and also literally as his son, who is the reason he went out on his own. The flame in his logo represents the energy his son brings him. Self-described as a “weird creative person who can’t stick to a routine. More of an energy person”, his ideal customer is either a start-up business, a business looking to re-vamp their logo, content or graphics, or finally, someone who is struggling to articulate an idea – these are situations where he can come in and assist. Every project is unique to the client.

At first, Thomas didn’t see getting a website as a priority and used social media as the center of Rā Designs online presence but as his name and reputation grew, he knew he needed a website to look more professional and so that people could find him when they searched online. “All of my work comes from word of mouth, one job leads to another, and that has continued to this day.”.


Rā Designs Website Home Page


In his own words –

“Just knowing I have the website done was a huge task for me to get done. As a designer or someone that does a lot of visual work, I treat the website as not only information for people and potential clients about my services. I also treat it as an online portfolio, and I find it very easy now to show people my work or examples of previous work. Also, it proves that I can now put a website together using this platform to build a website. I think it is a valuable skill to know as websites/online presence is the future of how people find you!”


Looking ahead, Thomas wants to continue to do as much design work, especially logo designs, from his home. As an up-and-coming designer of the South Island, he is looking towards getting an out-of-home office and being the person that everyone goes to when they want custom and creative services.” I know we will be seeking Thomas out further to give us a hand with some work at dazzly and we hope you consider him for your next business logo re-vamp or general design review. Knowing that we help many businesses from all corners of New Zealand each week, we will certainly be sending some business to Ra Designs.

Like Thomas, many other New Zealand business owners are jumping on to dazzly to create a website for their business with the website builder tool.


If you need a website for your Dunedin business be sure to get in touch with either the team at dazzly (support@dazzly.co) or reach out to Thomas Henry of Rā Designs directly at radesignsnz@gmail.com and he can help you put a great website together with a large scoop of extra design flair with the dazzly DIY website builder. 


Update (11/10/2021) - Thomas has successfully on-boarded Dazzly's first customer from Invercargill - congratulations and full steam ahead!