Fern is the combined efforts of the German duo Johannes Rix and Jürgen Krause. Inspired by Aphex Twin's album "I Care Because You Do" and Nonplace Urban Field's "Raum Für Notizen", both artists began to make electronic music independently in 1996. In 1997 they started working together using synthesizers, electronic bass, personal computer, drum computer, Boss digital delay, and multi-track tape recorder as their primary tools.

The next two years was a time of learning and experimenting finding both artists creating electronic music solo and with other projects. From 1999 - 2003 Johannes and Jürgen were members of the indietronic band Volksgarten (keyboards, sampler, beat programming). During 2002 and 2003, the artists performed some live acts together.
The end of 2004 saw the formation of Fern.