The History of Creative Auto Interiors

Formally Tom’s Auto Upholstery

The business was first opened by Tom Kuka in 1978 as “Tom’s Auto Upholstery”. Tom originally learned the trade at “T&C Marine” in Pompton Lakes, NJ, under the guidance of Charlie Trichilo, working through High School and several years there after.

The current owner, Rodger Pisani, then an apprentice in the industry, was fortunate enough to have started working part-time with Tom back in 1978 just after he opened the business. After several years of continued growth and starting to become well known within the community as a business you can count on and people you can trust, Rodger took over the company in 1985.  With great enthusiasm and the driving need to do the job right the first time; knowing there are no second chances for a first impression, Rodger continued to take the business to the next level with a hand-picked staff of highly qualified and motivated craftspeople.

Feeling the need to offer more than just the ‘expected’, Rodger was determined to do more than just ‘upholstery’, so he started offering other services such as; Window-tinting, Vehicle Accessories, Electronics and Custom Audio. However, this required much more space than he and his staff had to work with so he started the search for a larger facility and found a great spot in the neighboring town of Bloomingdale, at 10 Star Lake Road. He moved the operation there in 1989, and while that location was just about ideal, the prospect of leasing for the long-term was not! The continued growth of the business offered Rodger the opportunity to purchase the property where it all began, so in 1992 he packed the operation up again and moved back to the 58 Boonton Ave., Butler location, taking over the larger of the two buildings where the business continues to flourish.

In 2008, the small shop where Tom originally started – and which had since been rented out by various tenants – became available, Rodger decided to use that shop as another work space to help alleviate the spatial constraints caused by the continued growth of the business. So he talked his Dad, Sal Pisani, into building a work bench and some shelving to duplicate the work-area they original had back in 1978. It’s been working out very well as a 4th bay to accommodate the Accessories & Electronics work, leaving more room in the large building for the Convertible top and Upholstery work to be done in a safer & un-cluttered atmosphere.

Early Photos