Posted on Mon, Jun 29, 2009
The Kinesis Chair & Ottoman have been featured at Furniture Fashion, also known as Furniture Store Blog. Furniture Fashion provides ideas, pictures, and articles on interior design, home décor, furniture, and decorating. We can identify with their mission of providing people information about furnishings to beautify and personalize their environment while increasing quality of life through great design, and we certainly appreciate the support.
If you are a fan of good design, we recommend making Furniture Fashion one of your regular online stops. Here are links to the features they have done on our designs:
Kinesis Chair & Ottoman:
http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2009/06/28/kenesis_chair_and_ottoman_by_thos_moser.html
Pasadena Dining Chair:
http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2008/08/30/the_pasadena_traditional_dining_chair_from_thomas_moser.html
Edo Rocking Chair and Chaise:
http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2008/05/25/here_are_two_more_really.html
Vita Dining Table and Chairs:
http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2008/05/25/when_it_comes_to_outstanding.html
Posted on Fri, Jun 26, 2009
The reception for artist Judy Taylor last night was very well-received and we had a great turnout of customers and friends. We unveiled our new Pasadena Rocker and also gave attendees a sneak peak of our Meridian collection, coming out this fall. Also on display were works from local artists Eric Hopkins, Tom Curry, Jill Hoy, Liz Armstrong and Michelle Hero Clarke. Our Freeport showroom continues to partner with artists whose works compliment our furniture and creates a gallery-type space in our showroom. We are pleased to partner with Maine artists and invite you to the showroom to view the works currently on display.
Posted on Fri, Jun 26, 2009
If you haven't had the chance to check out our Special Savings Event Annex in Washington, DC, it's worth the trip. We have brought many pieces to the annex from our Maine shop including customer favorites, floor models and one-of-a-kinds (and are continually bringing in new pieces). The Annex is open through early August, but all inventory is first-come, first-serve. For those unable to make it to DC, we have posted many of the items on our website.
Here is a sampling of some of the items you will find at the Annex...
above: Round Ring Extension Table with Catena Dining Chairs
above: Wing Three Place Sofa, Pasadena Slipper Chair, Lolling Coffee Table and Round Minimus Table (shown with our Desk Clock)
above: an array of occasional tables, case pieces and seating
above: Edo Rocker
The Annex is adjacent to our Georgetown Showroom, which is located at 3300 M Street NW (33rd Street).
Hours are:
Mon-Tues: by appointment
Wed-Sat: 10am-6pm
Sunday: 11am-5pm
Visit our website for more details or contact the DC showroom at 800-708-9061.
Posted on Wed, Jun 24, 2009
Over the years a number of furniture makers have influenced the work we perform here in Maine. Two living makers had a huge impact on, not only my aesthetic expressions, but also on our business sense. Now both George Nakashima and Sam Maloof are gone and we function only with their memories.
I met Sam twenty-five years ago at his Los Angeles home where he and Freda spent the day sharing the world of woodworking as he knew it. His insistence on hand crafting, on “reading” the wood for color and grain, on the avoidance of metal fasteners and modern shortcuts all resonated with me and much of his attitude has insinuated itself into my work and that of my son David’s.
Although he shared what I call the California Organic free-flowing form with other builders of the time, such as Art Carpenter and Wendell Castle, Sam was a singular force during his entire lifetime. He knew himself and he knew his work as few of us are inclined to do. He will be remembered and his work will span the ages.
(photo of Sam Maloof and Tom Moser at our Los Angeles showroom opening in March 2008. The duo spoke on their shared love of the craft and design inspirations to over 700 fans during the opening weekend)
(a shot of the packed house as Sam Maloof and Tom Moser took to the stage)
"Sam Maloof, a designer and woodworker whose furniture was initially prized for its simplicity and practicality by Southern Californian homeowners in the 1950s and later valued for its beauty and timelessness by collectors, museum curators and U.S. presidents, has died. He was 93."
-Janet Eastman, excerpt taken from the LA Times
Click to view the complete obituary from the LA Times.
Posted on Fri, Jun 19, 2009
What a week! Our eighth week of hosting customers for the Customer in Residence program has come to a close - we hope to have sent our customers home with great memories and an appreciation for the work that goes into hand-crafting a piece of Moser furniture. They have left our cabinetmakers with some great stories and the opportunity to share the skill. This group hailed from across the country, with one customer driving all the way from California with his wife to take part in the experience. This week, we had Navy Seals, a machine shop owner, an orchard manager, friends, brothers, etc. participate in the program.
The week included time in the shop building the piece of furniture they selected, tours of the shop, our showroom, dinners, time to relax and more. The week was capped off with a signing/graduation ceremony this morning with all of the shop, the customers' spouses and families in attendance. Here are a few pictures from the ceremony...
A Chest fit for a Captain
(above) One participant, Captain Krongard, worked with cabinetmaker, Paul Blank to build a Captain's Chest. We thought this picture had great meaning, signed by Tom Moser (retired from the Air Force), Captain Krongard (US Navy) and Paul Blank (retired from the Coast Guard).
We thank all of the customers for spending their vacation with us doing what we do, day in and day out! Safe travels home...
Posted on Wed, Jun 17, 2009
The Distinction between “need” and “want” is determined by the economics of the times. For most of our country's existence, human consumption was need based. There was little surplus for what we today call luxury goods. As a child of the depression, I lived a comfortable life without restaurant dinners, paid entertainment (except for the Sunday comics) or electronic gadgetry.
Perhaps I was self deceived but it never occurred to me that we were deprived. My mother canned home grown vegetables, made sauerkraut and grape jelly. We had a few chickens for eggs and made soap out of lard. She mended our clothes and even made my pajamas from a bleached Purina feed bag. It was itchy but I liked them because she made them.
The world’s largest store, Chicago’s Sears & Roebucks, was twenty miles away and I can recall being there once only, just to see it of course.
All the people we knew were in the same boat and it was not until the 1950’s that consumerism became the means of achieving for the “good life." Although there have been dips in our economic trajectory, our current dip is far and away the most profound in my adult experience.
These times may well lead to a fundamental and permanent shift in our habits of consumption. What has given us meaning in the recent past, big houses, big cars, big price tags, big debt, may give way to a focus on quality and a more personal (make that emotional) connection to the objects that surround our lives. There is a movement away from profligate spending.
What we make and sell surely falls within the definition of a luxury product. What gives our work a chance to survive this move away from consumerism is the permanent nature of its utility and pride of authorship. We build furniture here in Maine and we sell it for more than one life-time of use. Our work will be here long after we have as a nation returned to the values of that simpler time.
Until next time,
Posted on Fri, Jun 12, 2009
Our Freeport showroom is pleased to present an evening open house on Thursday, June 25th with artist Judy Taylor. The event will feature new work from Eric Hopkins, Tom Curry and Jill Hoy and introduce works by local artists Liz Armstrong and Michelle Hero Clarke.
Also on display is our new Pasadena Rocker, from designer David Moser.
The event is from 6pm to 8:30pm on Thursday, June 25th. RSVP to 207.865.4519
Our Freeport showroom is located at 149 Main Street, Freeport, ME (one block north of L.L. Bean)
Posted on Thu, Jun 11, 2009
The most exciting part about our Customer in Residence (CIR) program is the bond created between the customer and their cabinetmaker mentor. Many of the customers coming in to the program find joy in putting a face to the cabinetmaker name signed on the bottom of the furniture that graces their homes. For the cabinetmakers, it is a chance to meet the customers and share their craft.
Our most recent group of CIR alumni featured a father/daughter team who spent the week with our resident cabinetmaker-mentor, Jim Boisvert, creating an Aria Desk. The group had a great week and swapped woodworking stories and interests. Jim was excited to learn that the father in this pairing creates wood carvings back home, so we sent him away after the week with a block of cherry. He took that block and whittled it into a beautiful dolphin statue as a gift for Jim, which we recently got a chance to see…
(the carving sent to cabinetmaker Jim Boisvert)
(the trio and their Aria desk, just before finishing)
(under the watchful eye of cabinetmaker Jim Boisvert)
Posted on Tue, Jun 09, 2009
We are offering a special sneak preview of David Moser's new Pasadena Rocker for our online friends and customers. The rocker will be introduced in our Summer Mailer, which will arrive in homes in the next couple of weeks, and can then be seen in any of our seven showrooms nationwide. The rocker is available in cherry and walnut.
We have received some great publicity on the rocker so far...
Arizona Foothills Magazine
Modern Luxury Blog