Crafted in Cleveland, At Home in New York
The custom pieces we’ve built for Manhattan’s best hotels,
restaurants, and workplaces.
Carne Mare from South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan
Rustbelt has built custom furniture for more than a dozen New York City projects, from exclusive members' clubs at Hudson Yards to a Times Square hotel lobby and an award-winning cocktail bar in the West Village. Every piece was engineered and built by hand in our Cleveland shop and shipped to the city ready to install.
New York has been good to us, and we've had the privilege of working on some projects there that we're really proud of.
Designers and owners there have trusted us to build everything from a wide variety of tables to an ultra-custom martini bar cart. These modern heirlooms are built for glamorous and hardworking spaces in some of the busiest rooms in the city. Here's what went into a few of them:
Equinox Hudson Yards: Tables Tailored to the Room
At the Equinox club at Hudson Yards, the goal was to create compact tables that feel like a natural part of the space. We built a family of low round and square tables in five designs, with bases stained black and tops stained to match the club's fumed oak. The club came back the next year for more!
Matching a new stain to an existing finish is a detail guests never notice when it's done right. That's the point. We send physical stain and finish samples for approval before anything reaches the shop floor, so the client sees the actual stain on the exact wood material we're using for their project.
Purchasing: The Ness Group
ZZ's Club: A Private Club at Hudson Yards
ZZ's Club is Major Food Group's private members' club at 37 Hudson Yards, home to Carbone Privato, the only private Carbone. Unlike most clubs, it's built around the food.
For the club designed by Ken Fulk, we built tables with stone tops on custom bases.
Partner: Parker Company
Design: Ken Fulk
The Knickerbocker: Luxe Martini Bar Cart for a Times Square Landmark
The Knickerbocker has stood in Times Square since 1906. Their food and beverage team came to us directly for custom bar carts, built on a firm deadline ahead of the summer season.
A bar cart in a hotel like this works hard. It rolls through busy rooms, carries heavy bottles, and still has to look good up close, every night.
Whatnot: Power at Every Seat
Whatnot's New York office on Avenue of the Americas needed tables that work as hard as the team does. We built two tables, each 162 by 48 inches (13.5 feet long). One is a boardroom table with two central power units. The other is a coworking table with power at every seat.
Built-in power is easiest when it's planned from the first drawing. Our in-house Design Director is a registered architect, overseeing every shop drawing, so the power ports and cables are thoughtfully integrated before any wood is cut.
Sip & Guzzle: Our Newest New York Project
We built new dining room tables for Sip & Guzzle. This cocktail bar on Cornelia Street in the West Village was just crowned The Best Bar in North America. The pieces include a round pedestal table with an antique mirror top, an oblong wood table with faceted corners on a black pedestal, and a table with a brass checkerboard inlay.
Design: WHENYOUDESIGN
The Hugh: Furniture for a Midtown Food Hall
The Hugh at 601 Lexington is a food hall in a privately owned public space, which means furniture that sees constant use from morning coffee to the after-work crowd.
Working with Bentel & Bentel, we built community tables, including bar-height tables 10 feet long that seat eight, indoor and outdoor tables in Kebony, a modified wood made to hold up outside.
Design: Bentel & Bentel
Purchasing: Barson Procurement
Why Do New York Clients Come Back?
It comes down to the quality of the craftsmanship, the care we bring from first drawing to final install, and the confidence that every piece arrives as promised. Because we build everything in our own shop, we can offer that level of craft at a value that makes sense for the project. It’s why clients like Equinox and NeueHouse have come back for more.
How Does a New York Project Get Built in Cleveland?
Every piece starts the same way, whether it's headed down the street or about 460 miles east.
Drawings. Our in-house registered architect turns the design into shop drawings. Questions about size, power, and joinery get answered on paper first.
Samples. We send physical stain and finish samples to the designer for approval.
The build. Our team builds each piece by hand in a manufacturing space built in 1872 on the shore of Lake Erie, using century-old tools alongside a modern CNC.
Delivery and install. Because we build in the United States, finished pieces don't sit in a port or carry an import tariff on the way to the job site.
You can see each step on our Rustbelt Process page.
Not every project needs a one-of-a-kind piece. Our Cut & Dried program offers standard tables and bases in premium domestic hardwood, built in the same shop with an 8-week lead time. Many hospitality spaces use both, with standard tables throughout and a custom centerpiece where it counts.
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Questions We Hear From Designers
Can you build tables with power built in? Yes. We plan power in the shop drawings, so we know where every outlet and cable goes before any wood is cut. At Whatnot, that meant two central power units on the boardroom table and power at every seat on the coworking table.
Can you match a finish that's already in the space? Yes. We send physical stain and finish samples for approval before production starts. At Equinox, we stained the new tabletops to match the club's existing fumed oak.
Do you make outdoor furniture? Yes. We build outdoor furniture for hotels, restaurants, and public spaces across the country, in materials chosen to weather the elements beautifully. In New York, that includes the outdoor tables at The Hugh in Midtown.
How long does it take? Standard tables and bases from our Cut & Dried program take 8 weeks. Custom pieces depend on the scope, and we confirm a timeline with every quote.
