A steel fabricator responsible for work on a number of recent high profile local projects has launched its own shop to showcase its employees’ skills to the general public.
Xtraweld provides fabrication, installation and sheet metal services across the country, mainly supplying the construction industry.
But its new shop at its base in Stone is hoping to appeal to local customers interested in bespoke, handmade one-off items for homes and gardens.
Operations Manager Brittanni Baskerville said: “We found that in the big chain shops, the items are mass produced and everything is the same, so items lose interest as ‘everybody has them’. This is why we wanted to launch the shop so people are able to have almost ‘talking pieces’ within their homes and gardens.
“We offer one-off handmade items for gardens and homes and it also allows customers to see what we do on a construction scale such as glass balustrading that they can have in their garden for example.
“My biggest thing with the shop, is allowing our staff to be creative. The ideas they have had is why the shop has been successful.
“They have had free play with making items, which wows our customers as each item is almost like a piece of artwork.”
Xtraweld was set up in 1999 as a family business and now employs 25 people, many of them long-term employees.
Recent local projects include all the glass channels installed at the new Hanley Library at Two Smithfield, in Stoke-on-Trent, as well as metal work for the seating area.
The Xtraweld team has also recently worked for Stoke City Football Club installing new glass balustrading on the stairs of the bet365 Stadium and also steel work to support the new light display featured in Daily Focus here.
The showroom at The Boat Yard, on Newcastle Road, was originally a shop for canal boats then briefly became a bike shop before being taken over by Xtraweld two years ago and now brought back into use.
Items on offer include fire pits, log stores, planters, outside furniture, door knockers and coat hooks.
No jobs have been created with the shop up to now, but there is the potential for weekend vacancies to open up soon.
