Wood & Cloth, one of Camp Hill’s newest shops, is offering up furniture with a soul, as the owners describe it. With a bright, airy atmosphere, the store seems both sleekly modern and warmly inviting in the same glance.
The store is the marriage of two Pennsylvania businesses: OSquared Designs and Paper Mill Furniture. Both companies have a similar philosophy of providing furniture that is designed to be inspirational.
“In this day and age, everything is disposable, but everything in our store has a story,” said Olga Lembesis, one of the owners of OSquared Designs, as she pointed out pieces of furniture in Wood & Cloth’s showroom from different periods of the 1800s. “We take heirlooms and estate sale pieces to put them back into use.”
She and her partner, Olga Bekelja, scour auctions and sales in surrounding states for quality furniture that is ready for a second chance. They work with Chuck Hanss, owner of Paper Mill Furniture, to reclaim and repurpose this furniture, and they update the pieces with luxury fabrics.
“The projects are like a puzzle. We take things apart, see how things are made, and put it all back together,” said Adriana Battista, production assistant for OSquared Designs.
Design Within Reach
Besides selling the pieces they breathe new life into at Wood & Cloth, the companies work together on other projects. Whether a customer comes to them looking to repurpose a single piece of furniture or renovate an entire home, the team will tackle the project with enthusiasm.
Bekelja said that, while some people come in with a specific vision and want to control certain aspects of their projects, other customers come in with no specific ideas.
“It’s very important to get to know the people,” said Lembesis.
The team will first visit an individual’s home to get a sense of the customer.
“Everyone has favorite colors and styles, even if they don’t know it,” she said.
Their biggest project to date involved gutting four major rooms in a local home and redoing the furniture and design from scratch—all within 60 days. The project included everything from creating a bedroom headboard to a built-in table and bathroom vanities.
Lembesis says their goal is always “design within reach.” While the rich colors and luxury fabrics can easily make customers feel like they are in a big city showroom, the team prides itself on the fact that the prices are below what you would find in most major cities.
“Every place someone lives should have some specialty to it,” Lembesis said.
So how did these two companies come together to open Wood & Cloth? The owner of the building that was to become their store met Lembesis through her other business venture and introduced Lembesis and Bekelja to Hanss.
Everything about Wood & Cloth’s opening has happened organically, so it makes sense that the two companies evolved naturally, as well.
“We always said, when my kids went to college, we’d start a little business,” Bekelja said, adding with a laugh that Lembesis called her the day Bekelja’s daughter stepped foot in college.
Twists and Turns
Bekelja was a political science major and credits her mom and other talented people in her life with teaching her the basic skills she’s put to use in their business.
Lembesis, on the other hand, grew up with a needle and thread in hand. She sewed her own clothes growing up, made her kids’ clothing, and took up household projects as well, including making her own draperies.
As for the first half of the namesake at Wood & Cloth, Hanss’ career took several interesting twists and turns before he bought Bryce Ritter, a company that specialized in reproduction and French country furniture. His passion for reclaiming and repurposing furniture started as a hobby when he was a child.
“I used to go down to the basement, grab tools, and do different projects,” Hanss said, joking that his mother just liked to keep him busy.
Hanss has certainly moved out of the basement, and Paper Mill Furniture will be moving locations in January. The new space will have a showroom and workspace four times larger than they currently have.
Wood & Cloth is located at 4444 Carlisle Pike, Camp Hill. To learn more, call 717-737-8000 or visit the Wood & Cloth Facebook page, papermillfurniture.com and osquareddesigns.com.
