Tranquil Terrain

  

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If you’ve never left your heart in San Francisco, now’s your chance! Works from artist Wendy Schwartz are on display in the Thos. Moser San Fran showroom and we predict you’ll fall in love with her winsome compositions. We’re so convinced we’re having an artist reception on June 2nd from 4 until 7 p.m. to celebrate the works of the talented painter, which will be on view through June 19th. If you’re in town, please stop in for a peaceful pause, an unavoidable circumstance of seeing the artist’s serene compositions. 

Tune In Sunday Night for Tom Moser on TV

  

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WHAT:  Tom Moser appears as featured guest on "CEO Corner" on NECN
WHEN:  Sunday, May 29 at 8:30pm

Tune into "CEO Corner" on New England Cable News (NECN) this Sunday evening at 8:30 to watch our founder Tom Moser talk about his experiences in founding Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers and some of the business lessons he has learned along the way.

Anyone who has ever met Tom knows that he has a charasmatic mix of charming and New England "gruff". And he was certinaly on his game during the show's taping earlier this week. Host Peter Howe did a great job in guiding the conversation through the many facets of Tom's illustrious and ongoing tenure as one of the world's leading "hands-on" experts in fine furniture design and craftsmanship.

Here is a sampling of some of the topics that will be covered in the half hour show...

• How Tom and his wife (and business partner) Mary started the company and what were some of the early struggles
• The focus/sacrifice that is required to start and maintain a business like Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers
• How our trademarked signature piece, the Thos. Moser Continuous Arm Chair, is symbolic of the company and it values/aesthetic
• What the company has done to weather the economic downturn of the last few years, and why keeping the extended Thos. Moser "family", i.e. the craftsmen and women and other employees of the company, intact is as important to him as the product 
• How Thos. Moser has lasted for nearly 40 years in a mass market world by making things of permanence that can be passed down from generation to generation

Check you local cable/satellite provider channel listings and be sure to tune in or set your DVR to NECN on Sunday evening at 8:30.  For those who may not have NECN in their lineup, check back next week and we'll post a link to the video once NECN posts it on their website.

As a preview, here are some photos from the taping...

Treasures for Treasures

  

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Tapping Into Dreams

  

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"I’m always enthused to hear what they have to say at the end of their week because most times they speak about how “big” the experience was for them, which blows my mind because we are talking about people who’ve reached the stratosphere in their careers in finance or management, manufacturing and myriad other professions.

"What strikes me as so phenomenal about this is that we in the America are largely a culture divorced from the natural environment, as so many of us have stopped working with our hands. When you think about it, there are three materials that bind us to our roots: wood, clay and stone—these are the three elemental substances that have been used since the dawn of man, whether early earth dwellers were grinding them up to create something for survival or carving them into deities.

"We at Thos. Moser are hardwired to leave a legacy using one of those malleable materials, and there’s a halo effect for the cabinetmakers. They see someone who is successful, say, as a hedge fund professional and who could spend time anywhere in the world but chose to spend it making a piece of furniture with them. During the signing ceremony, we shut the shop down so that the sense of pride can be honored. This really means something to those participating in our CIR and to the cabinetmakers as well.

"It hit home to me how important the experiential aspect of what we are building is during an auction at the Maritime Museum a while back. We decided rather than simply giving the institution another chair to auction off, we would have people bid on the chance to come to the shop and make one. The opportunity received so much more attention than the chair would have because we tapped into people’s dreams."

Here's to New Sidekicks!

  

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Every once in a while, we enjoy tossing out a good challenge to those who are new at cutting a swath in design. What better venue to host said task than a college like the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM)? Ten class members from the Interior Design program at the Los Angeles and San Francisco campuses participated in our design challenge charging them with creating an original piece of furniture in the Moser style, one which would complement our Lolling chair.

A Room with a Cue

  

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Reverse Engineering

  

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Spring is coming on in earnest and there’s a phenomenon taking place all across the country as antique lovers shake off the winter doldrums and prepare to hunt and gather at a long list of outdoor antique fairs from coast to coast. Brimfield Antique Show, one of the largest in the northeast, opens this week and we can feel the energy as the design community prepares to invade the bucolic countryside for a feast of patinas and panache!

Steering a Sure Course

  

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The most historic and revered museums in history are filled with artists who refused to sit still, and we’re not suggesting it wasn’t for want of a comfortable chair! We’re talking about creativity and how the restless artists among the world’s amplified names could not have imagined finding a “style” that brought them critical and financial success only to sit back and watch the checks roll in! Where would we be without Picasso’s forays into Cubism or Cezanne’s devotion to putting his representational view of nature on canvas, spurring a movement we call “Expressionism”? What if Gauguin had decided living in Tahiti was too much trouble or too dangerous? Entire periods of art would have produced fewer dimensions!

During a conversation with David Moser, it becomes clear that he is brimming with a similar desire to foster a continuum of tried-and-true ideas that find freshness in reinterpretations. “I’m restless and vexed: I’m not at peace at all,” he says of this drive to create, a restlessness that finds release in the making of a thing—the rare moments when peace does come.

Quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, who said, “A mind, once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions,” he illustrates the value in having cut his teeth in an artisanal environment and in paying close attention to other iconic craftsmen. “Sam Maloof is in the rocking chair he designed, and his California Roundover was revolutionary. Others who’ve made a mark are John Makepeace, Art Carpenter and Nakashima—these are guys who brought a post-industrial focus to the craft.” Picking a piece of sawdust from the sleeve of his shirt, which had drifted there during his morning explorations in wood, he said, “Before that, furniture resided in a pigeonhole.”

His next statement further reveals just how complex the task of steering a sure course can become for a company with a unique focus: “Last year, I visited Crabtree Farm near Chicago to see the largest collection of Stickley furniture. I went through the entire collection and as I descended a flight of stairs into the basement for the very last bit of what was there, I saw a selection of Gustav Stickley’s designs that were sculptural. These were hidden away in the basement—the last pieces you saw when you took the tour and ones representing his attempts to step outside the norm.”

Asking questions as to why this furniture was not as popular or successful as the designs for which Stickley has become lauded are ones that occupy David’s thoughts as he is putting his pencil to paper and fashioning new collections for Thos. Moser. “History teaches us lessons,” he remarks. “We just have to learn to interpret them within our own paradigms and be wise enough to trust that we can steer our way through the tumults."

Color Us Radiant!

  

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We’re in quite the artful mood this week with several showroom exhibitions opening. Last night Judy Taylor wowed the crowd by sharing her work in portraits and murals with the lucky attendees at our Freeport showroom event. Tonight, Robert and Julian Cardinal will attend a reception featuring their dramatic works in our Boston showroom, a portion of the proceeds of the sales benefiting the Fenway Community Health Center (the image above is Robert Cardinal's Charles River). The event from 6 to 8 pm will bring visual delights to our 19 Arlington Street address, as the Cardinals’ compositions awash in drenching color will infuse the showroom with a lively verve!

Maine Event: Judy Taylor at Thos. Moser

  

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We’re thrilled to be hosting an exhibition by artist Judy Taylor at our Thos. Moser Freeport showroom (149 Main Street) and we hope you’ll stop in for an opening reception tomorrow, May 4th, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., if you’re in town. Judy will present a slideshow and talk about the inspiration for her work, including the mural she created for the Maine Department of Labor—a commissioned piece entitled “The History of Labor in Maine.”