President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI sit side-by-side in Moser chairs at the White House : Thos. Moser

If you saw President Bush welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the White House on Wednesday, then chances are you saw our brush with history. We here at Thos. Moser were honored to build the chairs the President and the Pope sat in during the official welcome ceremony held on the South Lawn of the White House. Tom Moser, along with his sons David, Andy and Aaron, all attended the ceremony as invited guests.

Here's how it all happened...about three weeks ago, a senior White House official paid a visit to our Washington DC showroom and requested that we make two of our Harpswell Arm Chairs in Walnut for the Papal visit. He knew of us by reputation and a reference from a friend. He stated that they came to us because of their desire for the chairs to be American made and of highest quality and construction. Despite the relatively short notice, we were able to complete the chairs in time to deliver them to our Washington, DC showroom where they were picked up by the secret service.

The Harpswell Chair was designed by Tom Moser in 1992. Tom did most of the design work on this chair at his home studio/workshop, which is in the coastal town of Harpswell, Maine, hence the name. This timeless design has proven to be quite popular; for the better part of the last decade we have built more Harpswell Chairs than any other single piece of furniture that we produce.

These particular chairs will reside in the White House until the end of the Bush administration. Our understanding is that they will eventually be sent to the George W. Bush Presidential Library (location to be determined) for public display.

Here are some photos of the actual chairs and ceremony, click on each thumbnail to enlarge the image...