Tiring of her 17-year career in the world of corporate brand strategy eight years ago, Jane Humzy embarked upon a new business venture:

Seating. 

For indoors and out. 

And sometimes crossing borders between the two.

Her only requirements are that the design be simple, clean, modern and beautiful.

“I’m like a curator,” the owner of Jane Hamley Wells says.  “This kind of design is part of everyday life in Europe and Australia.”

She’s based in Chicago, and imports seating from designers from around the world, mostly for contract and hospitality.  Though she has no official showroom yet (“We’re a lean machine,” she says), she does have salespeople across the nation, while collections of her furniture are on display at the Park Hyatt Lakeshore and Conrad Hotel on the Magnificent Mile.

She started small, with a desire to bring more access to great design to peers and colleagues in the industry, and to grow carefully while surviving the worst economic conditions since the 1930s.

Her first showroom could be uveiled in the next 12 months, as she contemplates expanding to the residential market.

“I’m only now starting to focus on making beautiful furniture available to people who want it for their home, but can’t get  it,” she says.  “Residential designers should have access to it too.”

Her tagline is “Live Well.”  She doesn’t interpret that as a license to live obnoxiously, but rather as permission to be true to yourself.

“I figure that if you’re going to do something, do it well,” she says.  “It should be something you enjoy – something that brings you joy, and brings joy to others too.”

And to sit pretty while you do exactly that.

For more information, go to http://www.janehamleywells.com/about.php

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