We have a program at Thos. Moser called Customer-in-Residence (CIR), which takes place monthly from April through November each year. We just wrapped for May, and our David Moser was reminded of how inspiring it is to watch the professionals who take time from their busy schedules to travel to Maine and make furniture. Here’s how the program has made an impact on his thinking:
“I’m always enthused to hear what they have to say at the end of their week because most times they speak about how “big” the experience was for them, which blows my mind because we are talking about people who’ve reached the stratosphere in their careers in finance or management, manufacturing and myriad other professions.
“What strikes me as so phenomenal about this is that we in the America are largely a culture divorced from the natural environment, as so many of us have stopped working with our hands. When you think about it, there are three materials that bind us to our roots: wood, clay and stone—these are the three elemental substances that have been used since the dawn of man, whether early earth dwellers were grinding them up to create something for survival or carving them into deities. “We at Thos. Moser are hardwired to leave a legacy using one of those malleable materials, and there’s a halo effect for the cabinetmakers. They see someone who is successful, say, as a hedge fund professional and who could spend time anywhere in the world but chose to spend it making a piece of furniture with them. During the signing ceremony, we shut the shop down so that the sense of pride can be honored. This really means something to those participating in our CIR and to the cabinetmakers as well.
“It hit home to me how important the experiential aspect of what we are building is during an auction at the Maritime Museum a while back. We decided rather than simply giving the institution another chair to auction off, we would have people bid on the chance to come to the shop and make one. The opportunity received so much more attention than the chair would have because we tapped into people’s dreams.”
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