From Our Place to Yours

These are just some of the finished items we’ve made for the Ginjan Cafe opening up in Harlem. Thursday is D-day for us - Delivery Day, that is. It has been a privilege and a pleasure for us to work with the Diallo Brothers to help them make their entrepreneurial dream come true. We wish you much success brothers!

Ginjan Bros Cafe Chairs (2).jpg

Epoxy Resin Table

We had been playing around with epoxy resin for awhile when our great client, Mary S., approached us about finishing a Maple table we were making for her with epoxy.  Bless her, as she was willing to let her table be our "guinea pig".  After a few fits and starts, for as easy as everyone makes it look on You Tube, there are a few things that can go wrong, we finally got it done. We'll be making more epoxy resin pieces in the future.  

Thanks Mary! 

914INC. Westchester Magazine Sixth Annual Small Business Awards

Robert A. Rising, Owner

Robert A. Rising, Owner

Yonkers and Hartsdale • Outstanding Minority-Owned Business

When Robert A. Rising, aka “The Black Lumberjack,” realized he couldn’t find his dream furniture locally, he decided to build it himself. By 2004, the Mount Vernon resident’s passion project flourished into a unique business: NYCitySlab, a custom-woodworking company that mills lumber and creates furniture from more than 25 species of reclaimed local wood. The operation has grown to include a shop in Yonkers and a lumberyard in Hartsdale, employing eight workers.

Rising won’t fell a tree just for profit and only collects trees that are old, dangerous, or otherwise need to come down for natural reasons. The lumber is air-dried for one year per inch of thickness, finished in a kiln, and presented to customers to choose the perfect wood for their projects. Rising’s eco-friendly handiwork earned him a spot as one of 10 “makers” honored at the 2016 Martha Stewart American Made Summit.

NYCitySlab’s latest projects focus on public and community spaces, including turning cleared trees from the Sarah Lawrence College campus into 35 tables for its new Barbara Walters Campus Center and furnishing the Roberto Clemente Plaza in the Bronx with 86 benches made of Westchester wood.

Rising is particularly fond of projects that have a personal touch. “People call me to take down a tree that’s been in their yard for years, one that’s sentimental, and I get to put it right back in their house as something new,” he says. “I’m taking something that would be discarded and turning it into something that has value.”