Thomas Moser, a self-taught woodworker who quit his job as a college professor in 1972 to found a furniture company in Maine and then spent five decades resurrecting traditional American styles with an unmatched attention to detail and craftsmanship, died on March 5 at his home in Harpswell, Maine. He was 90.

Aaron Moser, one of his four sons — all of whom have worked at the company — confirmed the death.

Thos. Moser Furniture, which Mr. Moser and his wife, Mary, opened in an abandoned grange hall in New Gloucester, Maine, was a throwback to the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century, though in its styles it reached back another 100 years, to the simple forms of Shaker chairs and tables.

It also pushed against two dominant, intertwining trends in American furniture making: the commodified blandness of midcentury modernism and the replacement of small workshops with corporate production facilities, many of which were overseas and used unsustainable materials and practices.

Mr. Moser was a businessman as well as a craftsman, and he drove his company to grow. Eventually it moved to a larger space in Auburn, Maine, where today some 60 craftspeople turn out about 10,000 items a year.

Every Thos. Moser piece is made by hand; the wood — primarily ash and cherry — comes from within a few hundred miles of his workshop; and each item is finished simply, with oil and wax, never varnish or paint, so the grain of the wood and the precision of the joints are evident.