Reupholstery is all about extending the life of well-built furniture, to avoid the cycle of disposal and replacement with often cheaply made new pieces.
The same principle can apply to a family business with no heir apparent, as with Rendel’s Upholstery & Interiors, which recently celebrated its centennial at its Scio Twp. showroom and workshop. As third-generation owners Mark and Marsha Rendel, who live across the street, inch toward retirement, they’ve sold the business to longtime employee Brehima Sidibe. Mark calls the Mali native “my adopted son.”
Sidibe studied wood science and technology in Russia and came to the U.S. in 1998 to pursue a doctoral program. He landed in Ann Arbor rather unintentionally while awaiting the resolution of bureaucratic hurdles which were never cleared. “In the meantime, I realized, you know what? I have a passion for furniture since I was little,” he says. “I’m good with my hands. I just looked for something that I can enjoy, something that I can find myself in.”
The Yellow Pages led him to Rendel’s, whose offerings include not only upholstery fabrics and services but antique restoration and repair, window treatments, interior design services, and more. Several antique chairs and other pieces are ready for purchase as well.
Flashback: Rendel’s Is Alive and Well (Nov. 2013)
Sidibe crafted a career there and speaks ardently about his love for Ann Arbor, where he and his wife continue to reside after raising two now-grown children.
He leads a staff of about nine in continuing the legacy launched by Mark’s grandfather Kenneth and which Mark’s father Allen moved to an unpaved residential street off W. Liberty in the 1950s.
At the 100-year open house, Sidibe announced the new Mark and Marsha Rendel Skilled Trade Scholarship, an annual grant to a young person “who [has] a dream to pursue a skilled trade. It doesn’t have to be furniture.” Interested local students and apprentices are invited to inquire.
Rendel’s Upholstery & Interiors, 732 Lakeview. (734) 662–4706. Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Closed Sat. & Sun. rendels.com
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