A Fife firm is planning to attract the international market as it continues its expansion.

The Just Slate Company has gone from strength to strength since it began life in the garage of a Kirkcaldy house in 1998.

Specialists in coasters and table mats formed from locally-crafted slate, it has become a key supplier at home and abroad.

It now employs 65 people at its factory in Mitchelston Industrial Estate and since being bought over last October by St Andrews man Donny Carstairs, sales have increased by 70% and productivity has doubled. Mr Carstairs has also taken the environment into consideration by changing product packaging to make it more green.

Over the coming year, the company plans to launch a new website to develop opportunities for online sales in the USA and Europe.

The firm will also take a range of products to a gift fair in Birmingham in the autumn in a bid to increase its customer base in the UK.

Previous customers include Michelin-starred chefs Gordon Ramsay and Martin Wishart, who have snapped up the Just Slate Company’s products for their restaurants in London and Edinburgh.

They are also stocked by John Lewis stores across Britain.

Although simple in design, the products are made from expertly-selected slate which is cut and shaped before being oiled and packaged.

Mr Carstairs said, “Slate is a natural product formed over millions of years and no two pieces are the same.

“That means that every item we produce is unique in both contour and shade, something our craftsmen and women are adept at accentuating.”