Artline Memorials is a family owned Headstone and monument business based in Hamilton. We specialise in creating custom shaped headstones. Trevor Hancock, the owner, is a qualified apprenticeship served Monumental Mason and has served 35 years in the trade. Trevor has spent all his time in the monumental trade in the Waikato so knows virtually all the cemeteries and Urupa in the greater Waikato area and which headstones will suit in each. Sometimes we may recommend a different shaped headstone due to our wide knowledge of existing tombstones and we try not to duplicate memorials especially unique stones. Talking "stone" and designing headstones is a passion. Lucy has spent many years as a traffic engineer in Hamilton City Council and knows her way around Councils and bylaws and finds this useful in carefully advising memorial clients on what is legal in any situation. Lucy has spent many years in working alongside Trevor and helped install headstones and plaques when we worked from our home. When our headstone shop expanded we saw the need to build a purpose built headstone factory and called our son Ben back to work with us to keep up with the increased memorial work. Ben has trained full time for 5 years and is qualified to install headstones and memorials and plaques.

Business progressively grew so we saw the need to import headstones rather than use a middle man and we formed the Headstone shop group that imports memorials direct from two stone factories - one in India and one in China. There are 10 Headstone shop group members who buy as a collective and we bring in container loads of stone and sculptures custom made to clients needs. Our Indian source has good colour high quality granite, are excellent at creating traditional and simple shaped cheap headstones. Our Chinese factory has a staff of 450 expert carvers who specialize in hard stone carving. Combine the two and we have the world's best supply of Indian granite and Chinese granite along with sandstone and Italian Marbles.

The headstone shop group now are arguably the largest supplier in the country of memorials and have active headstone shops covering virtually all of new Zealand. We import a large amount of finished headstones and memorials each month and this bulk buying provides for quality stones and good service. Full carved sculptures and bust along with statues, angels and the like have become our trade mark. By combining as a group we are able to approach bigger and better resourced factories and these bigger stone factories require full container loads of stone as a minimum. Unique features on stones are now possible such as stone inlays within hard stone, which previously were unobtainable.

All the headstone shops are independently owned and offer a comprehensive memorial service including supply of stones and plaques, lettering, engraving of designs, artistic and creative filigree work, porcelain flowers, porcelain photos.

Along with this we offer unique to NZ - affordable stainless steel flower vases - again custom made to our design.

We understand the high value a memorial has in the grieving process and we extend ourselves to make sure our headstones shine when they are unveiled. If we can succeed in filling a customer's needs, we have done the best any monumental mason can do.

As work expanded we asked our nephew Tim Morton to join our team and he specializes in plaques and permanite panels and also designs graphics for headstones. Tim has over 2 years experience and is an apprentice to the monumental trade.

Because our headstone factory is on the way to the Newstead cemetery work is increasing as customers find that after visiting the cemetery and on the way back into Hamilton it is so convenient to call in and discuss memorial needs while the memory of what has been seen at Newstead cemetery is fresh in mind.

Our staff grew with a specialist office lady and then two more production staff. These are carefully trained to sandblast and engrave the stone to a high standard. We use 23 carat gold leaf imported from Australia - this gives the best lasting finish to any inscription.

To facilitate this and to offer the Waikato's best monumental service we imported the necessary machinery to polish stone drill stone and cut stone. Our Mission is to install only top quality memorials. Our workshop is fully equipped for memorial work with state of the art machinery, computers and software. All members of our staff are constantly being up-skilled and trained and are committed to making the process of selecting a memorial for your loved ones stress free. Making the grieving process as simple as possible is a skill and we endeavor to treat all customers with dignity and grace while offering forward looking suggestions.

Our headstone shop is very accessible yet the headstone display is very private as the display yard is fully fenced and the showroom is not visible from the road. While selecting a memorial, customers are not embarrassed by making public a very private and sensitive choice.

Artline supplies granite headstones in a wide range of shapes, colours and sizes to suit all budgets. This includes individually commissioned carvings. Our granite range includes 46 colours and we offer specialty stone options as well. We use two marble colours one from Italy and one from China.

Advising memorial clients about future needs is more important than making a quick sale and we try to fit headstones to clients rather than selling a stone "off the shelf". Hence the custom made option is hugely popular and we find many clients bring or recommend their friends to us.

We also supply bronze & chrome plaques and we have the Waikato's "Permanite franchise".

Our new purpose built showroom is located at 188 Morrinsville Road, Hamilton and provides good off street parking and privacy.

Hamilton's Headstone shop ltd is our official name but we have retained the Artline Memorials trading name as it has become a mark of quality.

We are proud to have been instrumental in building a nationwide buying group that imports stones directly. This gives you, the customer, the best options & value for money.