Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1003718
W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 65 FA C T BO O K / D O I N G B U S I N E S S I N M A I N E I N N OVAT I O N / R & D of omas Moser, who is semi-retired. Moser, who is president and CEO, had a previous career as an executive chef and has extensive knowledge of the hospitality industry. He's not a woodworker, but he's thrown himself into the family business. Forerunner to a movement of 'makers' Walking around with Moser in the company's Auburn headquarters, he moves as comfortably through the woodshop as he does through the show room. He is knowledgeable about the company's work and its products, which can sell for $10,000, but he also has a highly developed sense of marketing and consumer tastes. In the woodshop, he lingers around the power planers that get rough wood in shape for the craftsmen. He marvels over a CNC machine, perfectly cutting pieces for what will be study carols at the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library. He stops to chat with woodworker Jim Wisser, who is put- ting his signature to the bottom of a handcrafted desk. Later, seated at a os. Moser table in the showroom, he muses on the company's position in a competitive furniture industry. "How do you grow and maintain the quality? at's our competitive advantage," Moser says. "We don't have a monopoly on cherry. We don't own craftsmanship. We don't own tech- nology. It's like hollandaise sauce. It's always the same ingredients. It's how you bring these things together — this formula that's unique to us." In a day and age when people are obsessed with iPhones and personal technology, he says the Moser prod- ucts off er a needed counterpoint. In a sense, among a growing movement of "makers," omas Moser was an original maker. "Experience. Embrace. Nurture. It's a counterbalance to the tech world," he says. "It's a considered purchase. Our typical buyer has long been an admirer. eir kids are out of college. ey see value in relationships." He sees value in off ering something that's still handmade. "We want to widen the brand. It's handcrafted furniture," he says. An era of change Namesake omas Moser, 83, lives in Harpswell, about 45 minutes from the company's Auburn operations. He still makes the trek in a couple times a week, often to work on oversized American fl ags made of wood. Moser was a Bates College professor who quit his job to start making furniture. at was 1972, at a time when Maine was seeing an infl ux of back-to-landers. Moser off ered something more refi ned: highly specialized furniture that, with its Windsor chairs and traditional styles, harkened to another era alto- gether. Which may be one reason the furniture is in presidential libraries and has been used for visits by popes. "I would say that Tom's legacy is greater than sparking a renaissance," Peter Korn, executive director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, told the Portland Press Herald in 2015. "He has also, among other things, proven that an American company can still manufacture quality DESIGN | BUILD | MAINTAIN A FAMILIAR FACE... Or soon to be! Please join Beford Cost Segregation in welcoming Scott Shaffer, Dir. of Bus. Development, to Portland, Maine! (207) 405-4149 | sshaffer@bedfordteam.com | www.bedfordteam.com (207) 405-4149 | sshaffer@bedfordteam.com | www.bedfordteam.com (207) 405-4149 | sshaffer@bedfordteam.com | www.bedfordteam.com P H O T O / F R E D F I E L D C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » As is the tradition at Thos. Moser in Auburn, craftsman Robert Fisher signed his name to his work.