Philosophy

We love Cleveland. We love its history, its character and its potential. We created A Piece Of Cleveland to preserve this rich history by telling a story and turning unwanted materials into something better than they were before.

The products that we offer are made from materials carefully extracted from office buildings, residential homes, churches, schools and other historical structures in the city. Countless people, maybe some who were our ancestors, have walked on, sat in, and used the materials that we are rescuing to create our products. By using durable and beautiful wood, glass and metals found in these buildings, we allow legacies to live on.

We believe in:

  • - Preserving Cleveland history
    • We salvage materials from remodeled or demolished homes and give them a better purpose. For us, piles of century-old maple flooring that would normally wind up in a landfill are a gold mine. Just as a first-time meeting with someone does not reveal their full character, simply stripping away the surface of a solid piece of old lumber can reveal rich, vibrant wood with detailed and beautiful grain. It is from these pieces that we create our uniquely-designed products.
    • The older the wood, the better. Wood and other materials have great stories behind them, but many new buildings are constructed with less natural products than they were years ago. Over time, synthetics have become more common and cost-efficient for construction. By using quality 100 percent wood, we can offer products that are durable and timeless.
    • Our favorite part is telling a story. Although we cannot make the walls talk, we strongly believe in educating our customers on where their products came from and how they came to be. To connect our customers with Cleveland's intriguing history, we provide a re-birth certificate with each of our products that details what kind of building the materials used were taken from and where that building was located.
  • - Doing our part to help the environment
    • We use stains, finishes and paints on our products that are non-toxic and contain natural ingredients. We try to be the most environmentally-friendly we can be, without sacrificing quality. We always start fresh by stripping our wood to a new surface. From there, we do our best to bring out the characteristics of the wood with products that are not harmful to the environment.
    • We save quality materials from the landfill and give these pieces new life by using them to create unique furnishings and accessories.
  • - Designing unique furniture
    • The library of materials including wood, glass and metal that we have on hand is taken from buildings with distinctive characteristics. We have created desks using original drawers from Adelstein's Pharmacy, a building constructed for doctors and dentists in 1928 in the central neighborhood of Cleveland. We have created wood tabletops with beautiful wood grain out of solid maple floorboards of St. Josephat Church, a Roman Catholic Church on E. 33rd Street that was built in 1915.
    • Designing APOC products is like putting together a puzzle. We creatively consider every board and place it with precision.