The Chair : Thos Moser rendition

[Bill McDermott]

Received a mailer today from Thos. Moser. Not one to enjoy junk mail, I do enjoy their catalogs, as well as their furniture designs and workmanship.

Today's card featured a new design called the Cumberland Chair. It immediately made me think of The (Wegner) Chair. The two have many differences and many similarities. Moser gives a clear hat tip to the Scandinavians in the description on line (link follows).
http://www.thosmoser.com/collection/cumberland/product/2054/cumberland_dining_chair/

By the way, Tom Moser gave a keynote presentation at Woodworking in America a couple years ago, here in the Chicagoland area. I really enjoyed it. Sincere and entertaining gentleman. His family seems to have built a solid wood furniture company with a Neanderthal soul, that commands healthy prices. Good stuff.

Now that we have all been privy to the vintage Wegner footage and Derek's excellent build thread, I would really like to see how Moser builds their new chair. They have posted some good YouTube material. Maybe one is coming, or can be prompted here.

[Brian Holcombe]

Looks very similar to BassamFellow's mantis chair;

http://image.architonic.com/img_pfm2-2/206/1454/cb-25-mantis-chairs-w-table-01-b.jpg

[Charles R Johnson]

the mantis chair is really set off by that amazing connection between the back of the seat and the back legs. Seems to be in a class of it's own.

[Jim Matthews]

The Moser version looks like people that stand too close when talking.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGVSIkEi3mM

[Brian Holcombe]

My personal gripe with their work is that almost everything they make, in the way of chairs, is very obviously an 'interpretation' of important designs that are directly associated with one designer. I would have expected such a long standing company to have cut their own path by this point.

Many designers start by borrowing heavily from others, but eventually make their own way. If you look at Early Maloof he's really heavily barrowing from Denmark, but after the 60's he's really turning out work that is truly his own. Wegner and Juhl evolved from working out interpretations of ancient works (Chinese and Egyptian respectively) to their own personalised work toward the middle of their careers. I enjoy all of their early work, because it's the evolution of a designer, but I feel it's equally important that they established their own style.

[Prashun Patel]

This Mantis chair is beautiful. I am struggling in my own chair designs with respect to that rear leg/seat joint when there is no apron. Does anyone know how that Mantis rear joint is accomplished? It appears that the tenon is carved away from the seat blank and terminates in a dado into the rear leg.

I love Moser's furniture. His balance of organic, modern, and elegance really speaks to and aspires me.

[Mel Fulks]

I just looked at that Moser dining chair. To me a design like that needs some undulation in the surface, looks too machine
made or too "overworked ". A bit cold. I acknowledge that Moser is a smart guy....and hope that will prevent an angry mob
from stoning me.

[Brian Holcombe]

If I'm not mistaken it is a shouldered m&t at the leg. It is carved out of the seat blank.

[Kevin Groenke]

I had the privilege to tour Moser's operation with David Moser when the Furniture Society's conference was held in Portland, ME a few years ago. It was a pretty enlightening look at how one company is producing quality pieces in single pieces or very short runs. They run a lean manufacturing model in which very little is held in inventory to keep costs down and respond to a variable market. Obviously there is a lot of jigging and production technique but little is done all day. I was quite surprised to see how much was CNC'd and was awed by some of the jigs that were employed to do so - good stuff. A single employee takes each piece or group of multiples through production, there is basically a step-by-step instruction book for each piece and "experts" to train noobs if they get in trouble along the way. We got the impression that each employee could basically decide whether they wanted to make the same pieces over and over or if they wanted to make a different piece each time (depending on orders of course). The company seems quite committed to their workforce and offers a good wage and benefits. They got through some very tough times after 2008 without letting anybody go.

After the tour there was an interesting back and forth with Thom and Mark. In recent years Mark has been taking on much of the design work and there were some obvious differences of opinion in the direction of the design aesthetic of the company. Also very candid discussion of getting through hard times, market awareness, etc. Thomas is still a presence, but day to day operations seem to be predominately by other family members and long-time employees.

T. Moser has a "Customer in Residence" program in which you can spend a week in the shop making your own piece with a maker mentor. Seems like it would be a fun and rewarding experience.

All in all, I think a good company run by down-to-earth folks that produces quality, respectful product at a reasonable price (all things considered). While I agree that some of their designs are derivative, they have been in business for 40+ years, so apparently they're doing at least a couple of things right. I'd long admired their work and would be proud to own a piece if I ever decided to buy one rather than building something myself.

-kg

[Pat Barry]

... but little is done all day. -kg
Kevin, thanks for the interesting stuff on the manufacturing process. Sounds like it was a great tour and would be a nice place to work also. I just don't understand what you meant by the comment I excerpted. Maybe it was a typo. Could you explain?

[Frank Drew]

I haven't seen any Moser furniture in person in years, but my impression at the time was a bit similar to Mel's: well-made but a bit lacking in personality. And I like a bit more happening in the finish department.

But I admire that some manufacturer is making honest, solid wood furniture these days.

[Kevin Groenke]

Kevin, thanks for the interesting stuff on the manufacturing process. Sounds like it was a great tour and would be a nice place to work also. I just don't understand what you meant by the comment I excerpted. Maybe it was a typo. Could you explain?

Hello Pat, now that I read it again I see that that may have been poorly worded. What I meant is that much of the workforce appeared to move task to task rather than doing a single thing all day long as is the case in many production environments. The exception to this appeared to be the finishing and upholstery where indications were that that's pretty much all that those folks did.