Thos. Moser, Handmade American Furniture, recently announced its Hartford Collection including a sofa, side table, coffee table and media case, Hartford Lounge Chair and Hancock Chair, all designed by Thos. Moser’s Director of Design Adam Rogers, and its Portland Chair, designed for Thos. Moser by Ben Klebba of Phloem Studio in Stevenson, Washington, have won 2016 Good Design Awards.

Founded in 1950 by former MoMA curator Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. together with modern design pioneers Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, Good Design, the world’s oldest awards program recognizing design and manufacturing excellence worldwide, is organized annually by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in cooperation with the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies. This year the Museum received thousands of submissions from designers and leading manufacturers and industrial and graphic design firms including Fortune 500 companies from around the world.

The 66th Good Design Award recipients include over 900 cutting-edge designs in a variety of categories, such as new electronics, energy systems, robotics and bionics, building materials, furniture, textiles, environments, household, office and children’s products, lighting, graphics and branding, among others, representing more than 46 countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Criteria for judging includes innovative design, new technologies, form, materials, construction, concept, function, utility, and energy efficiency.

“To receive multiple Good Design Awards, and to be recognized by such a program of global design excellence, is a significant and historic acknowledgement for Thos. Moser,” said Aaron Moser, Thos. Moser’s President and CEO. “Being honored with four design awards is a testament to Adam, our Director of Design, and the team’s collective talent, dedication and remarkable craftsmanship.”

The Hartford Collection, also an Architizer A+ Awards Winner, includes a sofa, side table, coffee table, media case and the Hartford Lounge Chair, which is also recognized separately this year for a Good Design Award. The Hartford is a living collection designed to fit into a wide variety of environments providing a simple and modern look. Named Hartford for a small town in Maine, which is also the hometown of Rogers’ partner in design and prototyping, Warren Shaw, the collection uses advanced technology and machining capabilities to elevate what’s possible in craft as well as define visible joinery in a new way. It also embodies the tenets of Thos. Moser: a dedication to functionally driven objects, formal simplicity, the characteristic elimination of ornamentation, and use and celebration of traditional materials and woodworking techniques while also emphasizing craftsmanship.

Named after the Hancock Shaker Village, the Hancock Chair offers a contemporary take on a historic furniture form, says Rogers. The chair is a sum of nine Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machined steam bendings, three parts including the front and side rails, and a seat woven of Shaker tape. Each joint is mortise and tenon for strength, while the webbed seat provides flexibility for comfort as well as durability. With a Thos. Moser practice to reference traditional furniture but present it through a modern lens, the Hancock Chair is Rogers’ take on 18th and 19th centuries’ ladder back chairs.

Designed by Ben Klebba of Phloem Studio in Stevenson, Washington, the Portland Chair, a dual Architizer A+ Awards Winner, represents Thos. Moser’s commitment to find and partner with like-minded makers to further explore what is possible within the parameters of the brand and modern craft. Klebba was inspired by Thos. Moser’s spindle back chairs to create a side or café chair that is strong, yet minimal with exposed joinery and turned and tapered limbs.