An Iconic Furniture Maker Creates Works of Art from its Maine Headquarters
Tomas Kauer - News Writer - Moderator 
The couple walked into the Thos. Moser workshop in Auburn, Maine, with a set of dining chairs they hoped to have reupholstered. The chairs, Thos. Moser vintage pieces, were 20 years old and still as sturdy and beautiful as ever. The couple were already intimately acquainted with the Thos. Moser collection, which was founded by Tom Moser more than 50 years ago in New Gloucester, Maine. Since then, pieces have been built for popes, presidents, and flocks of homeowners who want simple, elegant, exquisitely built furniture. Having furnished their first home with Moser’s pieces, the couple knew full-well that Thos. Moser furniture has the shine of its illustrious origins rooted in North American hardwood materials and hand workmanship.
When Nichole Bailey, the business’s digital marketing manager—and a creative “collector of stories” at the workshop—saw the fabric chosen for the chairs, she was delighted by the creativity. “I said, ‘now here are people having fun with their furniture. They were making it their own,” Bailey says. Working with their friend, interior designer Kathi Fuller, the couple were forming their own generational story with their new home on Maine’s spectacular craggy coastline.
Today, the shingled home on Wheeler Bay, amid forests and rocky outcrops, is filled with Thos. Moser pieces. In fact, every shared space in the two-story home has the namesake furniture, a mix of old, new, and reupholstered. The couple had brought in dining room chairs to be revitalized with new upholstery. The chair seats were covered with dark green fabric with creamy ribbons woven through the pattern. Today, those same chairs are vibrant and beautiful, with seats in a geometric blue pattern and chair backs of multicolor fabric reminiscent of the Maine artist Dahlov Ipcar. “To see the two fabrics together on the same piece is not something people usually do,” Bailey says.
The Thos. Moser look—stunningly simple and uncluttered—is perfectly at home here on the coastline, with each room offering views of classic Maine scenery. Fuller was committed to bringing the outdoors in: the white-tipped blue ocean water, the forests of cedar and spruce, and the hefty rocks that pop up. Artworks, many by Maine artists, exude the same spirit. As Fuller says, “I curated a palette of vivid colors, including the blues and greens they love.”
Each room in the shared spaces—built in open-plan style—sport Thos. Moser designs. The star of the dining room is an eight-leg oval ring dining table, with Harpswell arm chairs. A cherry wing chair and ottoman grace the primary bedroom overlooking the bay, a perfect spot to sip morning coffee while watching lobster boats cruise the waters. “They are all statement pieces,” Bailey says.
In the living room is a side table—“a bungalow-style hall table,” says Bailey—and in the kitchen, a walnut kitchen island is completed with Thos. Moser cherry Harpswell stools that welcome visitors to sit, relax, and perhaps chat with the cook. As Bailey says, the dozens of pieces give warm consistency while honoring the landscape and craftsmanship of Maine artists and makers. The husband of the couple shares his carefully considered view of their collection: “Every piece is intentional.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT
The post An Iconic Furniture Maker Creates Works of Art from its Maine Headquarters appeared first on Ocean Home magazine.
