Not much is conventional about Janice Feldman, founder of the LA furnishings company Janus et Cie. She races vintage rally cars and has hiked the Himalayas. She once drove 19,000 miles alone through Europe. And she dragged her parents to look at model homes at the tender age of 10. So when she opened her showroom in the Pacific Design Center 32 years ago, it was bound to be anything but average.
Named after Janus, the Roman god with two faces, Janus et Cie (translation: Janus and Company) has grown to include textiles, rugs and accessories for home and commercial spaces, though early on only indoor and outdoor furniture were offered. “I grew up in Cali, so [my inventory] was based on inside/outside living,” says Feldman. One constant over the course of 30 years, however, is the unfussy contemporary design that has come to mark the brand’s aesthetic.
Feldman’s affinity for the outdoors extends to her business principles as well. “We were green before the word green was used,” she says. A cofounder of the group Architects/Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility, she employed eco-friendly materials in her designs from the outset. The company’s Janus “wood” is made from recycled polyethylene containers, and many of the products contain repurposed aluminum and have a nontoxic, powder-coated aluminum finish that is applied electrostatically and replaces paint when pieces are finished.
While she loves implementing new green methods, Feldman does have one credo that holds sway above the others: “Our goal is to make products with a long life cycle,” she says. “That’s the most sustainable practice.”
