Q+A with David Moser, principal designer at Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers

From the April 2012 Bright-Minded Home column in Maine Home + Deisgn:

David, youngest son of Thomas Moser, is the principal designer at the iconic 40-year-old Auburn furniture company with showrooms in Freeport and across the country. (Read profile of David Moser in Maine Home + Design by Rebecca Falzano.)

David Moser, photo courtesy Thos. Moser

Q: Describe your vision of sustainable furniture design.
A: We design our furniture to last as long as, if not longer than, it took the tree that made it to grow, and to be passed down through a family. I don’t design for fashion or timeliness, which ebbs and flows, but for timelessness—to create something that will survive my life and be just as current then as now. This seems to me the most basic form of sustainability. Products today often exhibit design obsolescence—they are made to break down within five years. Then you must buy another and another so in the end you consume and pay more than if you bought one table designed to last a lifetime.

Q: Is furniture art?
A: I don’t know that furniture ever really becomes art, but the process is artful. Art, for me, has no masters—it doesn’t owe anything to anybody. Design has a lot of different masters: economy, craft, utility. Still, looking at good design is like hearing music that satisfies the soul; you come into its harmony and are free for a moment.

Ellipse Dining Chairs in walnut, photo courtesy Thos. Moser

Q: What’s next?
A: The long-term plan is to build a showroom on the plot of land in downtown Freeport [currently featuring a Moser chair in a glass case]. I like to dream about what I would create for that space if I were an architect—glass and stone, natural materials, gardens, art. A place you go not only for the furniture, but just to visit. A reason to pull off the highway.

Share your comments here, and learn more at thosmoser.com.

Q+A with John Rooks, founder and president of SOAP

From the March 2012 Bright-Minded Home column in Maine Home + Design:

SOAP, Sustainable Organization Advocacy Partners, helps companies, governments, and non-profits understand, improve, communicate, and own their impact to the world via environmental sustainability, social/cultural sciences, and business strategies. John is also the author More Than Promote: A Monkeywrencher’s Guide to Authentic Marketing. He spoke at TEDx Dirigo about something he called “the wink” of green marketing.

Photo by Jason Esposito, courtesy TEDx Dirigo

What is "the wink"?

It’s when a teenager invites a date upstairs "to listen to music." They both know the sub-text, but it’s a safer question than asking to go upstairs and make-out. The Green Marketing Wink is the same. Most brands promote how green they are through advertising. Kermit the Frog’s "It’s not easy being …" has been used on everything from Fords to pension funds, but it’s often only lip service. The product manufacturer gets to say, "We are green." Wink. The consumer gets a guilt-free purchase and winks back, but underneath, both know it’s simply giving permission to do commerce.

What can businesses do to practice more authentic sustainability?

There are bright spots in the "collaboration is the new competition" movement where companies are collaborating with competitors to reduce environmental impact. Nike, particularly, has done this well by working with other footwear companies on "pre-competition" problem solving, and open-sourcing much of its material impact data and product design tools.

SOAP advocates that companies complete an Authenticity Audit. It’s a scary concept, but one that helps align corporate culture, business goals, and sustainability to create the most effective path toward achieving business goals and sustainability at the same time.

Learn more at tedxdirigo.com and thesoapgroup.com and share your thoughts here.