The success of a fledgling Black Country furniture company is good news for its workforce, who are set to get a share of the profits.

Isu boss Jon Crawford is setting up an employee shares trust, making his company one of the smallest and youngest in the UK to do so.

“I suppose the one people will know best is John Lewis,” said Jon. “There the employees own the whole of the company.

“We are a lot smaller, of course, but I am giving ten per cent of my equity in the business to my workforce. I just felt it was a good idea to give them all a real stake in the success of the business.”

For Jon, the employee share trust is another sign that his firm, Isu, does things differently. Combined with a “can-do” attitude and some serious design skills it has seen the company winning both awards and new business.

Isu – the name is Japanese for “chair” – is based in a former steelworks in the back streets of Willenhall and has just won two prestigious design awards as well as scooping work for high street store chains, a flamboyant London bar and even a restaurant in Latvia.

“We aim to offer something different,” said Jon, a former Edinburgh furniture design student. “Our signature piece is a U-shaped lounger called the Ohm. As well as having an unusual design, it is surprisingly comfortable and strong – it has a tubular steel frame and can easily seat two or three people.” The lounger is the same shape as the symbol for an ohm, a measurement of electrical resistance, hence the name.”

After graduating with first class honours from the Edinburgh College of Art, Jon worked for a Wolverhampton contract furniture company before starting Isu in 2005. The firm moved into premises in Victoria Buildings, a former steelworks in Stringes Lane, Willenhall in October 2006.