The world can be divided into two types of people - those whose think the above is a Buckminster Fullerene and those who think it’s a football.

And those who think it’s just an overpriced planter.

Visit our sister site, Tinpot Alley, to view more stainless steel and metal planters.

Not a million and one moons ago I went over to Todmorden to take a few pictures of the stainless steel planters we manufactured and installed for the town’s civic planting society (y’know - those groups who put flowers everywhere to make a place look nice), Todmorden in Bloom.

We originally did six 1mtr cubed stainless steel planters to go along the side of the canal and to compliment a fishy wall sculpture thingy.

Anyway, a couple of weeks after taking the above pics we received a phone call from somebody who’d just run a skip into one of the planters and needed a fresh one fabricating.

(I told John not to use a cheap carrier!)

Anyway, the fella in question arrived the other Wednesday with the deformed planter strapped to the back of his van and, as he pulled up outside Butler Sheetmetal HQ, was greeted by at least three of us um-ing and ah-ing and scratching ourselves quizzically behind the ears.

As he started to undo the straps to get the planter off we all lent against his van and started to witter on to each other how easy it’d be to hammer the damage out. The bloke’s face lit up with gleeful relief as he asked “Really?” thinking that it’d save him from having to pay for a new one.

The poor bugger soon realised that we’d suckered him in a touch as John explained that it was goosed and a new one was the order of the day.

Bless.

Here’s a little job that we’re currently on with at the moment. It’s for an assortment of 27 zintec planters to be painted matt black for a garden architecture firm down in London.

If you’re wondering who the guy is to the left lacking a posterior, it’s Matt.

They’re due to go for painting some time this afternoon.

We received the enquiry just before Christmas and sent them a sample once they were happy with the quote.

Stay tuned for pics once they’re finished!

We got these pictures sent ot us of a pair of elongated bespoke stainless steel planters we fabricated for the Sheraton Hotel down at Heathrow Airport.

Here they are at either side of the foyer as you walk in.

Here’s one of them from the front.

Here’s one from an angle. (Although I’m sure you can see that for yourselves.)

And here’s one from the other side.

I hope these pictures give you some idea of the scale of the things as I don’t know the actual sizes.

Considering stainless steel photographs so appallingly as it tends to show up every single mark and fingerprint, I don’t think the chap who did these has done that bad a job.

You can view more bespoke stainless steel planters at Tinpot Alley.

Not too long ago John and myself had to deliver a house-load of tall hexagonal stainless planters to a certain footballer who currently plies his trade in the Premiership. Or, to be more exact, the reserves of a certain Premiership club.

We aren’t ones to drop names into converstions like your average drunk would drop an alka seltzer into a pint glass the morning after the night before. And besides, the vast majority of you won’t have heard of him.

In one of my prevoius incarnations as a furnishings emporium proprietor just over ten years ago, I remember both Stuart Ripley and Graeme Le Saux popping into my establishment one afternoon after training as we were located just round the corner from the Blackburn training ground.

It was round the time of Uncle Jack’s millions and either just before or after they’d won the Premiership.

Some of Jack’s millions well spent - finally.

Anyway, after Stuart Ripley had managed to cause an effect similar to a partial solar eclipse after turning to the right whilst browsing the shop window and I’d stopped mentally singing: ‘If Ripley plays for England, so can I’, we managed to build up a bit of a rapport with Mr. Le Saux and counted him as a bit of a regular. We also had to pop round his gaff once in a while to do certain bits of work.

At the time, Blackburn players were probably some of the best paid in the land and, whilst Mr. Le Saux had a lovely pad in Waddington, it didn’t have the equivalent of a plasma screen in every room, a pool table at the top of the stairs and a grand piano in the foyer.

It’s quite apparent that even second string footballers at second rate clubs are paid infinitely more than those of a not too distant yesteryear. But then again, you knew that anyway.

Oh, and when was the last time you saw a full safety net in place for a trampoline at working class kid’s house?

Well now I’ve managed to completely alienate the footballers’ wives portion of the market, it might be quite nice to see what shape swimming pool Rio Ferdinand has.

[Next week: How Freddie Flintoff shotgunned a planter-load of Lancaster Bomber]

You can view more stainless steel planters over at Tinpot Alley and the Tinpot blog.