Our Story

Ji Ni Dai began in 2014 with a simple frustration: good furniture was either disposable or untouchable. We wanted pieces that could survive a family, a move and a few decades without asking to be handled with white gloves. So we started with one table, built in a borrowed workshop, and sold it to a neighbor in Whittier.

Designed in Los Angeles, built in Whittier

Our studio is in Los Angeles, where we draw, prototype and choose materials. Production happens in our Whittier, California workshop, with a small group of makers we have worked with for years. That separation is deliberate: Los Angeles keeps us close to how people actually live in small apartments; Whittier keeps us close to the people who know how to build furniture properly.

Materials that are allowed to age

We work in solid white oak, American black walnut, wool, linen, stoneware and brass. We finish wood with natural oil rather than a plastic film, so it can be repaired instead of replaced. We choose stone for weight and quiet, wool for softness and sound, and brass for the small warm detail that makes a room feel finished. We do not use veneer on edges that will be touched every day.

Small runs, long lives

Most of our pieces are made in runs of 20 to 60. That lets us keep an eye on the grain, the joinery and the finish, and it keeps the workshop small enough that the person who sands your table also signs off on it. We keep spare hardware and repair notes for every piece we have made.

If a leg is scratched, a cushion loses its shape or a drawer starts to stick, we would rather fix it than send a new piece. Our repair service is available for as long as we are in business.

The showroom

Our Whittier showroom is open Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. You can sit on the sofas, open the drawers, feel the finishes and compare wood samples side by side. Bring your room measurements and a photograph; we will help you work out what fits. For trade and interior design inquiries, email info@jinidai.com.

What we believe

Furniture should be quiet enough to live with and strong enough to hand down. It should be made by people who are paid fairly, from materials that can be traced, in a way that can be repaired. And it should look better after ten years than it did on the day it arrived.

We are still small. We intend to stay that way.

— The Ji Ni Dai team