Since 2019, IWDesign Corp, founded by Darren Gooder and Laura Caley, has been growing in reputation for its work across projects in metal and wood ranging from custom tables and railings to a focus on container conversions for clients in Canada, and United States.
Gooder, who was always passionate about creative possibilities with metal and wood, even from an early age, described his upbringing and his professional life.
“I’ve always dabbled in creative projects. For many years, I built sculptures out of steel [and] I’ve always done gates, railings and also have enjoyed woodworking. I grew up where both of my grandfathers and my father were tradesmen. Also, growing up in the 1980s…in Eagle Place….I remember building tree houses. That’s really what gave me the ability to kind of visualize and create things abstractly. [Eventually] I went through a few really great jobs, traveling the country with a pneumatic conveying company, doing projects in water treatment. I was in charge of a lot of the creative manufacturing and projects at Maidstone Bakeries. I learned a lot about the food industry, working at close to 40 different food plants,” Gooder recounted. “At one point, I started to reflect on my life and refocused on what I wanted to do. I got the opportunity to work at Fowler metal. Initially, it was kind of a step back to where I was, but helped me focus as a human being…not just being consumed about a career. The organization was great…they recognized me, and I got promoted to the plant manager role after being afternoon supervisor. I designed and built a brand-new plant in Brantford, and then ran it until 2019. I learned a lot about manufacturing [and] Shawn Fowler, the owner, was one of my biggest mentors in my life. We are still friends today. I had a really good career there… but things eventually changed when a new management team was brought in and they were amalgamating the businesses as there was multiple. So, I think at that point, it was the right time to head down my own direction. I was already running my side business, making charcuterie boards for friends and family and experimenting in marketing when I took that opportunity in 2019 and started IWDesign.”
During the fall of 2019, Gooder got a great opportunity to get his company on the right track, with major interest in his well-crafted charcuterie boards.
“When I first started to take the business seriously, that was in November of 2019. I had a conversation with a fellow that was in charge of the Delis at the 14 Fortino’s and Loblaws. He really loved the workmanship on the pieces, and he wanted to meet up. We did, and our product basically meshed well to their existing product line in their Deli’s and providing an add value for customers. So, we rushed into that, making about 1200 boards. At the time, we were doing all this at my home shop, and we were packaging these boards in the cold on the patio and it was a bit overwhelming, but it was great,” Gooder explained. “After Christmas, we had another meeting….and they wanted to give us a space [and] a permanent spot on the floor with the plan to roll this out at retail in all of their stores. I already had some marketing ideas as I worked with smaller gourmet places around town like La Bottega and Mercasa setting up displays. Now with Loblaws onboard, we were getting everything ready [including] registration, getting our marketing approved, [and] consulting with our lawyers….and then the pandemic hit. It stung hard, because we had a lot of investment wrapped up into this, and we couldn’t do anything as planned [because] they needed all the floor space for social distancing at the grocery stores.”
At this point, Gooder decided to start doing some commercial renovation work until the deal with Loblaws was approved.
“We dove into a project with Capeesh [Craft Kitchen & Cellar] in Paris, and we built that from what used to be Midtown Café. We were then hired to completely gut that and renovate that restaurant and to make it in just what it is still today. So that got us through the summer…[and] when things started to change a little bit and places started to open up. Loblaws finally approved our retail displays going in and the product that was going into the stores. We rolled them out at all of the Fortino’s, and our products sold very well,” Gooder said. “It was around this time that people’s buying habits changed. They weren’t going to Sportchek, or Canadian Tire. Their destinations instead were grocery stores, because they had to get food. Customers would see value added products, like our charcuterie boards. A product like that would [positively] change their meal times…helping them a bit from the monotony of being stuck at home on lockdown. The sales were astronomical. We couldn’t keep up with the demand….eventually, we were approached by Sobeys, and we expanded into their stores like Foodland [as well as], Zehrs, and the Real Canadian Superstore through Loblaws,” Gooder said.
While the charcuterie boards proved to be successful for IWDesign Corp, they were pursuing other creative projects.
“Because of the DYI boom during the pandemic, we got into some really creative projects, building flat walls and tables and islands and…we got into the epoxy thing, which all led to different commercial and some residential projects….we did the front bar at Stillwaters [and] rebuilt the back end of Cobblestone, which are both in Paris. We got involved with Beertown Public House, which is owned by the Charcoal Group and started doing Christmas gift packages for them. We did 2500 pizza boards for a company called Franklin Empire, which actually was our very first order, even before the Loblaws,” Gooder noted. “It was always called IWDesign (Iron and Wood), even though, in the beginning, the only thing we were doing was wood based…but I always had that background in metal and manufacturing…[and] there always had been a desire there to grow at some point and that naturally came into play. We started to acquire machinery [and] moved our shop to Brantford. We outgrew the one shop we had there, and then we got into another unit…but, we didn’t have enough power to operate for various reasons. So, we ended up moving to Scotland, to where our shop is today.”
However, even back in 2020, the idea of building offices and business spaces out of containers, was something that was presented by Randy Fitch, the company’s salesman. It is now the bread and butter of the company, where they have completed close to 200 container projects in the process.
“Randy came to me with an idea to build a backyard office out of a container. Initially, I said no. We simply had too many others things to concentrate on. Randy would eventually find a lead on a container and brought it up…I must have been in a great mood that day, because I agreed to do it. We brought it in, and it took us a few weeks to build it out and then we put it up for sale. Simply doing that, created so much attention. And I think that people had already seen these [container conversions] on TV shows and they were actually finding out that someone was doing this in their own backyard… it created quite the buzz, and the container sold very quickly,” the entrepreneur noted. “I decided to build more…and this is where the I and W (Iron and Wood) reflected in IWDesign….covering both of my passions. And now it’s turned into a business where I can understand and capture a customer vision, using our workshop and our CNC machines which we have for metal and wood, and make it a reality. We have capabilities of welding, and building structures like staircases, or cutting containers and rebuilding containers…turning them into tiny homes, businesses or pretty much whatever vision someone has in mind and bringing it to life.”
Currently, IWDesign Corp has three companies which falls under the main umbrella including Canadian Shield series (focusing on charcuterie boards) and Ontario Containers as well as Innovative Containers.
“We are pretty much solely focused on container work now, and have been for quite a while… it’s been amazing because we can do those modular builds in our shop…[and] we can do all the installations, the design work, the permits, and then we can also provide services like plumbing, electrical, gas, and propane. We have built food trucks and commercial restaurants with micro factories [which] is a really big thing now and is growing,” Gooder stated. “We just did a massive six container that all work together, that are all cut open to create a production floor that makes it fully autonomous. We spent eight months on that project, and that’s just being installed in Florida right now for a company called Relocalize, out of Montreal. We’re building trade show displays right now for Rototilt, a Swedish company, which has a location in Brantford. We’re [also] building two separate modular board rooms (20-foot containers) with roof top patios for their trade show circuit. They are taking it to Las Vegas, then to other construction trade shows around North America.”
While Gooder and his team have worked on numerous container projects during the last six years, one particular one resonated with him, working with entrepreneur Abby Procyk.
“My favorite project that we’ve ever done was for Kai Café. It’s little coffee shop on highway 24 just behind Sam’s Place Farm Market started by Abby. She called me one day, telling me she was interested in making a café. She asked me if she could send me her business plan to me, which I said absolutely to. While she was clear what her end goal was, she didn’t know how to get there, but definitely wanted us to help her get there. I read the business plan and was very impressed. She had worked at Sam’s Place when she was a teenager, and then she had this vision when she was in Hawaii [while] working at a café…she then back [home] with this passion to create a business,” he explained. “Right from the start, she let me in on some of the problems she was facing, [while] letting me flex my creative muscles….we prepped it and built it over winter. And we [also] got to be involved in some of the branding with her….referring Abby to someone we knew. We got to build signs and bring them to life, and then work out all her kitchen details, which was such a great experience. And now to see her business catch on has been phenomenal….and just to see this whole big atmosphere that she’s created is special.”
However, Gooder maintained the importance of his team as it has continued to grow since its inception in 2019.
“Laura’s my wife is my biggest supporter by far….when I was thinking of starting this, she’s told me to do it and that she would have my back. She’s the best thing that’s happened to me. And we of course I have a great team….the two main guys are Jay Almost and Ben Radusin. Jay’s our master carpenter [and] he can do anything…and has helped take our business to the next level. I’ve learned so much from him. And Ben worked for me at Fowler. He moved on before I left there…but we reconnected about three and a half years ago ….he started as a part time, working weekends and taking odd shifts. He’s a phenomenal fabricator, and welder,” Gooder said. “Randy does our sales. He’s been selling for a long time and he’s a great guy all around. And we have a couple other guys that work for us too, under Jay and Ben. Another thing that makes us great is our subcontractors. When we’re getting into projects that are complex… we work with companies we trust like Preferred Heating & Cool, TMAC Electrical Contracting, and Platinum Fire Equipment.”
Nevertheless, with all the success, Gooder focused on a particular highlight which happened in 2025, which summed up IWDesign Corps’ growth.
“We just purchased the building that we’re in now, so we have been at that location for four years, leasing it. And just being able to buy commercial property is unbelievable [and] reflecting on the fact that we were able to pull that together…IWDesign is only six years old, going on seven…and to be able to buy our own piece of land [and] to run our family business is probably one of the greatest things that I’ve ever achieved in business,” he said.
