Tom & Mary Moser

Founders, 1972

Formerly a Bates college professor, Tom Moser left teaching in 1972 to restore the lost art of fine woodworking by making one-of-a-kind pieces of handmade furniture in an old Grange Hall in New Gloucester, Maine. Mary Moser, Tom’s wife, managed the selling and finances while their four sons trained as young apprentices. To their banker’s horror, there was no business plan, product, sense of marketing, and no cash or cash flow.

“We had no particular reason to believe we could succeed, but I had to make things out of wood. It was as simple as that.”