Hardware & Security
30 years of raising the bar
Rapierstar is the largest specialist designer and supplier of window and door screws in the UK and Ireland .
The company started life 31 years ago at the home of founder and MD David Furness as Architectural Supplies Limited , who spotted an opportunity to challenge the market ’ s established players . At that time , David believed that window fasteners were too often either low grade , cheap and poor quality products , which were causing huge problems for fabricators and damaging consumer confidence in finished windows and doors , or over-engineered and phenomenally expensive .
His vision was to bring to the market a uniquely innovative , technologically advanced and keenly priced branded range of fastener solutions , and it proved a success with the rapid development of its customer base .
After 13 years as Architectural Supplies Limited , David believed the next stage in their development was to encapsulate all the products it offered , backed by a strong customer support ethos , to be much more than ‘ just a fastener supplier ’. Hence , in 2005 the Rapierstar brand was launched , along with its family of trademarked product ranges , including StarPVCU window screws , StarTurn universal timber screws , StarFix masonry fixings and StarPin polymer headed pins and nails .
Today Rapierstar operates from a 100,000 sq . ft HQ and bonded distribution and technical centre near Macclesfield in Cheshire , where more than one billion individual items are held in stock at any time . By holding many months of stock , the company is able to absorb the impacts of disrupted global trade , as observed in both the pandemic and Brexit , to offer stability to customers across the UK and Ireland .
How Rapierstar is different One of the company ’ s greatest assets and differentiators is its technically skilled , customer-focused team . They provide a unique specialist advice service rooted in fastener expertise with a focus on the fenestration market .
Rapierstar ’ s skilled and knowledgeable team supports fabricators , installers , systems companies and hardware manufacturers . By working right across the industry , they are in an excellent position to help customers achieve more , whether that ’ s improving the quality of their products , getting new products through tough testing regimes , overcoming technical issues or boosting productivity efficiency and health and safety in their factories . Over three decades Rapierstar has established long term partnerships with
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