Personal touch on every page

THOS. MOSER is the most handsome catalog ever stuffed in my mailbox. Tall and well-proportioned -- 12 by 9 inches -- it towers over the newsweeklies and countless offers to refinance the house. The heavyweight, high-gloss cover makes shelter magazines look dowdy in comparison. And once inside its pages, I’m tempted to review those re-fi offers and plow my home equity into Moser’s made-to-order wood furniture.

There was something familiar about the first Moser catalog I saw. That trademarked Continuous Arm Chair -- hadn’t I seen it as a pen-and-ink drawing in the back of the New Yorker? Probably, because that’s where Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers got its start -- selling Shaker-inspired furniture mostly to Volvo-driving New Englanders. The early catalogs were loose-leaf sheets in folders, collated by Thomas Moser and his wife, Mary. That first “portfolio of ideas,” as it was called, cost $1.25.

Thos. Moser now employs 174 people, 95 dedicated to designing, building and finishing each handcrafted piece. The catalog, however, is free five times a year, distributed to 80,000 or more potential buyers.

I was immediately smitten. The pages seemed as polished as the cherry-wood tabletops. I wanted to run my hands over the pictures. Light falls seductively across surfaces, making the wood grain seem to glow. Nearly every domestic tableau features original artwork of some kind, a contemporary painting or early American ceramics. (I take these as helpful clues. If I can’t afford Rookwood vases, I shouldn’t get hooked on the American Bungalow club chair.)

The catalog does what all effective catalogs should: stand in for a salesperson. Small detail shots lean in to look closer at the dovetailed joinery on a dresser, or the maker’s signature on the underside of a chair. Black-and-white photos show the craftsmen at work too, tapping in wedged tenons to secure legs to the seat of a chair.

The text is crisp, though it tilts toward the philosophical. For instance: “Nature creates forms based upon what is required to do the job well, no more, no less; we design furniture that faithfully serves the human body at work or at rest.” That’s counterbalanced with practical information, such as the length, width and height of a table with two leaves and how many it seats. It’s more information than the casual page-flipper needs, but then casual page-flippers probably don’t order six $1,500 dining chairs.

Still, someone is being inspired by all this lovely art direction. The company built more than 10,000 pieces of furniture last year, and about half of their sales came from the catalog. The rest were from the six Thos. Moser showrooms around the country. (The closest is in San Francisco.)

Michael and Jane Papadopoulos are exclusively Thos. Moser catalog customers. After buying a few Moser pieces over the last two years, they just placed a large order for their newly constructed home in Seal Beach.

They discovered that the company seems to pay as much attention to their customer service as they do to their joinery. Jane Papadopoulos was taken with the design of one chair but worried it might be uncomfortable. To help her decide, Thos. Moser shipped her three chairs to try out. “The things came on a truck wrapped in blankets like little babies,” she said. The loaners will go back when her dining set arrives.

Kristi Kamps, the vice president for marketing and merchandising, is working to expand Moser’s appeal beyond the New Yorker set. In her 15 months with the company, she has made subtle changes to the catalog, introducing elements such as the aforementioned artwork to show how traditionally crafted furniture can swing modern.

“I’m trying to bring freshness to the brand by showing people how you can use it,” Kamps says. That meant out with the oriental rugs and in with paintings and sculptures and understated linens. Thos. Moser is the only catalog I’ve come across with a “Special Thanks” list in the back crediting art galleries and accessory stores.

I too was surprised at the personal level of service. A few weeks after I requested a catalog from www.thomasmoser.com, an e-mail arrived from the customer care department asking if it had arrived and if I had any questions about the products.

Indeed, one: Can you also help me refinance my house?

Robin Rauzi can be reached at home@latimes.com.