I always daydream about what it would’ve been like to be alive during the 1940’s & the 1950’s. I’m not sure what age I would want to be. Maybe a young kid, not too young- old enough to ride my bike to go fishing or play baseball. Old enough to appreciate the simplicity of the times. Or would I be older, an adult. Not an old timer but an adult in my prime, raising a family. Would I be a business owner or would there be satisfaction & pride in the job I go to everyday.
In those days, businesses were a direct need to the community or resource to the economy. There was a living to be made as an employee at those businesses. Things you bought were assets and contributions to a household. You had one car that was built to last. Sinks & bathtubs were made to last the life of your home, the home where you plan to raise your kids and still live in when you become a grandparent.
There really is in fact, truth behind the statement that things aren’t made the way they used to be. I am inspired by the quality, craftsmanship, and engineering that was put into a product, community, or infrastructure. I am inspired by the accountability of the times. It was the approach that if you do something, you do it properly. From a supermarket clerk to a machinist, there was purpose and pride in every job.
The home that I live in now was built in 1957. I remodeled the nursery and decided to pull the drywall off for the sake of optimizing the insulation & electrical. To my surprise, the insulation was still in perfect condition and had been installed in such a clean and meticulous fashion that I decided I couldn’t have replaced it as an improvement. Not only that but the framing was done in a way that has been deemed obsolete because of it’s difficulty and is now considered “overkill”
Best Built Bar in the USA
If you think about that statement, it’s not hard to earn that award. As a matter of fact, my mindset alone either places me as the winner of that category or if nothing else, tied for first. One of the most common things a client will say once their custom bar is installed is that “they knew it was going to be nice but not this nice” and I am proud of that. It is that type of reaction that keeps thebarmaker in business and striving to be the best.
Tumultuous times call for desperate measures, right? Wrong. When we started building custom bars, we didn’t know how to build any other way than besides from scratch. We were carpenters, we weren’t entrepreneurs out to maximize production and profits. We were literally energetic, artistic, & charismatic craftsman that didn’t know the word can’t. Fast forward past collapsing housing markets, recessions, covid-19, inflation and well, that’s STILL US!!
There were products that were imported, hard to get & very expensive. That didn’t affect us. Wood products imported from Canada and other regions couldn’t keep up with demand during covid-19 and spiked lumber costs. That didn’t affect us either. All of our material is sourced either locally or at least within a range of a 6hr. Radius of Cleveland, OH. Our custom finishes, custom mouldings, and hand selected hardwoods- right here in Ohio.
We remained the integrity of a framing nail made in the 1950’s that you need a big hammer to sink. Not being a savvy entrepreneur driven by maximizing profits literally kept thebarmaker in business throughout some of the most unstable economic moments of the century. This May will mark 19 years in business. While our processes have become extraordinarily refined in that amount of time, our corners still remain uncut.
Let’s embrace the the slogan “built in the U.S.A” because it represents for me, an era that can never be replaced but we can certainly adopt the values and quality that will hopefully reinforce a foundation that has been getting chipped away for far too long now.
