Donnie Hopf grabs a piece of steam-softened wood at the JSI factory in Jasper, Ind. and loads it into a machine that slowly bends the stock into what will become the back of the company’s new Henley chair. He has been working the same machine for decades alongside his brother, Dennis Hopf, another craftsman at the company.
The Hopf brothers are caretakers, in a way, of a steam bending process that has taken place over and over again for nearly 100 years at the plant (on the same machinery). Yet there is nothing “old” about the process. JSI has a knack for blending traditional craftsmanship with modern design. Nowhere is that more apparent than in its new Henley chair.
It is a wood chair, built by hand, created by Joey Ruiter, a designer known for his cutting-edge work. It is a form that is familiar, but altogether different than a typical wooden chair. And it represents JSI’s deep roots in furniture craftsmanship as well as a hint at where the company is heading.
JSI cares deeply about its traditions and craftsmanship, but it is one of the most dynamic companies in the industry right now, rejuvenated by a management team led by CEO Mike Wagner that seems to have more fun and more focus than most.
“When I (arrived at JSI), I found a company that really cared deeply about the community and they cared deeply about the customer,” said Wagner, who held senior positions at both Kimball and OFS before joining JSI. “So that was the foundation. And what I felt so strongly about at the time was that we needed a purpose. We wanted to memorialize the commitment that we have to our people and to our community and to our customers.”
Since then, Wagner said everything the company has done has been based on making sure the business is strong and that it can be passed on to the next generation and its commitment to remain in Jasper as a large regional employer.
But it is not enough to simply survive as one of Jasper’s legacy furniture makers. Wagner wants to change the way the market sees the brand. To do that, he needed to change the way the company’s furniture is designed. Enter the Henley chair.
Henley: A Design Story
Ruiter visited JSI about two years ago and toured the company’s Southern Indiana plants. He discussed designing a wood chair for the company, but wasn’t sure where the design process would lead him, until he saw the traditional steam bending equipment.
“I saw the process and thought, ‘Man, I really want to steam bend, because that’s the really soulful part of the process,’” said the designer who has worked with MillerKnoll, Steelcase, Allsteel, Nucraft and Grand Rapids Chair, to name just a few of his clients.
Ruiter is known for pushing the boundaries of design. He is also known for understanding the culture of the companies he works with and designs that into the products he creates. The steam bending room was his inspiration — the wear he found in the tools and the grooves on the workbench. He found something familiar in the steam bending room, something relatable and profoundly enriching; an art that has stood the test of time.
Ruiter’s designs are rooted in simplicity. While you might have in mind what minimalism means, it means something entirely different to Ruiter. He starts with an idea and refines it over and over, removing the unnecessary until all that is left is the product in its simplest form. At his Grand Rapids-area studio, Ruiter has designed minimalist cars, dune buggies, boats, bicycles, motorcycles, consumer products and, of course, furniture.
Henley is something bigger than just the product. The JSI team sought to create a chair that captured the essence of the brand; elements of its own nearly 150-year history with artfully made details and a contagious attitude of positivity. Each detail of Henley speaks to this pride and craftsmanship through generations of hands that have built the furniture, the business and the surrounding community.
Ruiter began designing Henley the same way he does with any product — with simplicity and modernism in mind. While some product lines have dozens or even hundreds of iterations, Henley comes as a guest chair or a guest chair with a simple upholstered seat. It is made of solid wood from top to bottom.
Its inspiration comes from JSI’s Boston chair, a traditional chair that might be used in places like courtrooms, meeting rooms and other venues that demand a classic look. While the Boston chair was born in the 1920s, Henley is entirely modern.
Ruiter reimagined JSI’s classic steam bent Boston chair — a piece that feels both nostalgic and new. By blending walnut, white oak, and maple solid wood with a sleek, updated silhouette, Henley brings innovative forms to timeless methods. Like a workbench smoothed over decades of use, the rounded details mimic the continuous repetition of materials colliding, creating a softened form. The gentle rolling seat saddle, the doweled legs, the soft “notch” at the intersection with the back legs and the subtle rounding in the edges all speak this language.
Henley is modern, but doesn’t lose the focus on comfort. It curves naturally to the form of the body. The chair is designed as a contemporary, relaxed reflection of its Boston counterpart, its sleek shape is seamlessly carried through to its dowel legs.
“The art of design happens when you change the way things are perceived. It challenges convention, and creates new stories, interactions and the rarity we want,” said Ruiter.
Blending Craftsmanship and Modern Design
JSI isn’t so much a single company, but an amalgamation of Southern Indiana companies that have been acquired and blended into one since the original company was founded in 1876.
Its history sprouted from the Jasper community. The area was surrounded by beautiful hardwood forests of white oak, walnut and maple. Add to that an “old world” work ethic and craftsmanship and you have an area ripe for furniture making. Many of the founders of Jasper’s furniture companies came from Germany looking for a new life and bringing with them the furniture making skills that would help build an industry. Farmers and craftsmen from Germany, Austria, Bavaria and Prussia left their homeland in the 1830s and 1840s looking for new opportunities. Many found themselves in Jasper, an area that resembled their Southern German homelands.
If those craftsmen could see JSI’s furniture plants today, they would be shocked by the automation and high-tech manufacturing in some areas and comforted by familiar equipment in others — time-tested machines that simply work as well or better than any modern alternative.
JSI has several plants in the Jasper area, but its acquisition of a former furniture factory in Orleans, Indiana exemplifies its commitment to its people and communities. When the plant originally closed under the former company, it cost 200 people their jobs — nearly 10% of the community’s population. JSI acquired the plant, preserved the jobs and in the process, created “The Hub,” a 1.2 million square foot distribution center and its largest manufacturing facility. When JSI decided to reopen the plant, it welcomed back all the grateful workers with a $100 bill and a holiday message that their jobs would continue.
It meant a lot to the workers and the community. It was around the Christmas holiday, said Vice President of Manufacturing Chris Edwards who called the laid off workers together and delivered the news that JSI would rehire all the employees. “They were crying, we were all crying,” he said, tearing up as he remembered the moment. “It was probably one of the best Christmas gifts I’ve ever received.”
Edwards gets emotional about the moment because he was in the same situation when he worked at a furniture plant and lost his job. “I’ve been there. I didn’t know how I would feed my family,” he said. “So to be able to give that back and be part of that, God blessed us with a beautiful day.”
By securing the future of the plant — and with it, the community — JSI has built a strong culture in its manufacturing facilities. There are multiple generations of workers at JSI, including seven father-son teams in its upholstery department alone.
Edwards seems to know everyone in the plant and greets them by name as he guides tours of the facility. They recognize Edwards as one of their own — a guy who came off the floor and worked his way up to management. They also understand that Edwards can (and occasionally does) jump on a spray gun to get a product finished. You can get a lot of mountains moved with that kind of loyalty and dedication on the shop floor.
The Hub has truly become JSI’s manufacturing center. When the company acquired the plant six years ago, it created about 6% of the company’s products. It now accounts for more than 65% of what JSI produces. The company runs its laminate casegoods in the plant and operates a full metal facility there. Veneer casegoods are also produced at The Hub, but that work is moving to its DuBois County facility so The Hub can focus on laminate furniture. The Hub is also the distribution center for all JSI’s finished goods.
The company isn’t finished streamlining its manufacturing operations and continuously tries to improve and innovate. Yet from the 100-year-old steam bending process to its new automated equipment, JSI has all its manufacturing bases covered to ensure its customers get the quality and speed to market that they are looking for.
Redefining a Company
It is hard to tell whether JSI continues to undergo an evolution or if this is more of a revolution. If it is a revolution, it started under former CEO Mike Elliott, who led the company for more than 40 years and solidified its commitment to the community and its customers.
When Wagner was named president and CEO of the company in 2020, Elliott said: “For several years I’ve been searching for a successor with a real passion for furniture, for people and with vast market experience in this industry. I grew up with this company. And after 40 plus years of leading Jasper Group, it was extremely important to me that I found someone who I trust implicitly to care for this business, our great people and our craft as much as I do. I’m certain that Mike Wagner will do this, and I’m confident he will be a great leader of this company for years to come.”
The pandemic slowed the changes that Wagner, who previously served as president of Kimball Furniture, planned to implement, but his work has hit a fever pitch in recent years.
First, Wagner solidified the company’s rich culture. Workers at JSI seem happy. They smile a lot. They joke around with each other. At the same time, they seem laser focused on what they are trying to achieve — to elevate JSI into a favorite brand among the architecture and design community and as a preferred manufacturer among its distribution partners.
Next, the company focused on its showroom strategy by moving out of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago and building out a new showroom in Fulton Market. It was a bold move as JSI was one of the first mid-majors to leave the iconic Chicago building for the hip, trendy neighborhood. It has paid off for JSI. The company’s products show much better in the light-filled Fulton Market showroom and it has the room to truly tell its design story and history to visiting customers and interior designers.
And in March, JSI announced the company’s entry into the healthcare market with the launch of JSI Health and five new furniture lines to go with it: Kindera, Somna, Satisse, Forge and Copilot. The brand had a major stand at the recent Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis. It is a major new initiative for the company and an entirely new vertical market. Who says you can’t teach and old company new tricks?
Once thought of as a reliable, though somewhat sleepy furniture maker, JSI is turning heads with all the changes and its commitment to design, quality and customer service.
“I think we’ve got the strongest talent I’ve ever worked with and it’s probably the strongest management team in the industry,” Wagner said. “So moving as quickly as we can, we are building the business toward the A&D community. We’ve spent the last four years investing heavily in technology and equipment and facilities and management training and new scheduling systems — you name it. And we’re now ready.”
Despite its longevity in the industry, Wagner said he still occasionally walks into meetings where the brand is unknown. It is gratifying to hear that customers and designers are pleasantly surprised by the company and its products, he said, but it is also frustrating that a company with so much history can be occasionally overlooked.
“We want people to visit because when you walk through the factory, when you go through the showroom, you can feel the energy. It’s tangible. I hear people say that all the time,” said Wagner.
The trick is exposing the industry to the buzz around JSI. If people experience what Wagner is talking about, he said, it will change their minds about the brand. Though he wishes he had a magic wand to make that instantly happen, Wagner knows the only way it will is through a lot of hard work, a lot of phone calls and a lot of presentations.
Products matter too. JSI has a “massive roadmap” of new products that are being designed and prepared to launch. Though the company has worked hard in 2024 to build out its healthcare products, 2025 product launches are expected to focus on meeting and conference room applications, said Ryan Kuiper, Product+Design Team Manager.
Which brings us back to the Henley chair. Ashley Sendelweck, Vice President of Marketing and Design said launching the Henley chair shows the fearlessness found in JSI’s management team.
“We really are fearless,” she said. “We have all these capabilities that a company our age is able to do, but then we have new things like a burgeoning metal operation where we have our own powder coating, in-house sheet metal and wire and tube bending. We talked about doing things like this before Mike came. Now we are really investing in those things and tackling things that are really smart and really strategic. The sky’s the limit.”
All of JSI’s design ambitions, furniture making skills and legacy are found in the Henley chair, which is being launched by the company today. Henley is more than a chair for JSI. It is a symbol of the company’s enduring commitment to craft, innovation, and creating places where people connect, thrive and feel inspired.