A PAIR of young engineers from Malmesbury have started their own handmade furniture business in their garage.

Housemates Adam Lambert and Tom Caldwell, both 27, created their homemade furniture company last summer when they realised the potential of selling their products online.

"It all started with a piece of oak we wanted to turn into a table for our living room," said Adam. "We made our first set of hairpin legs in our garage using steel bars and my granddad’s old welder."

Pleased with the result, the men decided to post their hairpin leg and furniture designs on eBay and were pleasantly surprised by how quickly they sold. Before long their online business, The Hairpin Leg Company, was born.

All their products are handmade in Wiltshire, using materials sourced as locally as possible.

"We get our wood from Chippenham, laser cut bases from Gloucester and steel from Sheffield," Tom said. "All the design and manufacturing is done at home, with a bender, welder and angle grinder we keep in the garage. We take care of the shipping too, using an automated booking system that Adam created."

The Hairpin Leg Company is now selling up to 50 sets of legs a week, shipping all over the world.

Part of the reason why the firm is working so well, the boys believe, is the combination of different skills they each bring to the business.

Adam is a keen photographer and takes all the pictures for the website, while Tom’s knowledge of SEO is key for their product marketing. Although they work together to make the products, Adam handles the shipping system while Tom takes care of packaging.

The housemates are also looking to expand their product range into other areas.

"We’d like to start making a larger variety of furniture and home ware products, like kitchen utensils," said Tom. ‘You never know, one day we might even expand enough to move out of our garage."

Visit thehairpinlegcompany.co.uk for more information.