I wanted to start a dialogue regarding furniture reproductions because we receive questions about our reproductions all of the time and I know its a hot topic.
I understand how confusing it can be when you're searching for designer reproductions. On the one hand, the prices are much better. On the other hand, is the quality the same? This is a conversation everyone has with themselves when choosing between originals and reproductions, whether it is with furniture or art or anything else in between.
One thing I like to point out to people is that with furniture, if the original designer isn't alive and making the product him/herself, then everything else out there is a reproduction. There are companies that license the design and make it based on specs and there are companies that make similar products with slight variations (i.e., dimensions might be off 1" or the fabrics used might vary slightly). In both cases, though, they are reproductions. The Bibendum chair you're buying wasn't actually made by Eileen Gray...
Think of a painting. If Van Gogh licensed all of his paintings to Joe Smith Art Company, would you say that Joe Smith Art Company makes any more of an original than another company that reproduces the Van Gogh without a license if the quality of the two are the same? If the other company points out clearly that it is not an original and is just a reproduction, why is it that their reproduction is any worse than the one from Joe Smith Art Company?
I think this is an important thing to point out. So if both are really reproductions, then the only thing that you should focus on is quality.
Now, when it comes to quality, you do have to differentiate between companies that make reproductions. We have spent the past 8 years searching for suppliers of reproductions and I can tell you there are wide variations in terms of quality between the many Italian, Danish, and Chinese suppliers of reproductions.
Most of our reproductions come from Alphaville Design, whom we consider to be the best supplier of reproductions in the world, the quality of which exceeds even Design within Reach. We use other suppliers as well but all of our products have to pass our own internal quality control inspections. Despite the stigma, the quality of furniture coming out of China has improved significantly. We have tested from many suppliers in Italian and Denmark that are worse than suppliers from China.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your comments.
Mike
Edited by Design Addict. No advertising in the forum please !!!
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I've just splurted my coffee back into the cup laughing, good one.
This makes it even funnier...
http://www.exposay.com/sacha-cohen-stole-furniture-while-filming-borat/v...
So many problems...
So many problems with your argument Mike.
First off, industrial design is nothing like art so that analogy is crap. An artist creates a single unique piece each time. An industrial designer creates a system for taking pieces into mass-production. The only person to whom that argument would be apropo would be Nakashima, and only to certain types of his work.
So, what the Designer does is appoints a company to create the pieces to certain specifications, made with certain materials, in a certain manner that ensures the end product is in compliance with a level of quality. It is product production, not product RE-production. What's the difference? The licencsed company (many times the original, or constant producer of a piece) has access to the directives left by the designer. They have access to original drawings, specifications, measurements, machinery, tooling, etc. A company making RE-productions does not.
A knock-off company can only reproduce what something looks like. They can only copy. A better example of your VanGogh analogy would be cars. I bet a handy body-shop could make a Geo Metro look kind of like a Ferrari. But does anyone here think it will perform as well?
And performance really is the measure of furniture - not look. It's easy to make something LOOK kind of the same (see the photos below) but it is very difficult to make thinks perform. That is why most high quality furniture (designer or not) is expensive. Because it will last.
How funny
to think that you consider any piece produced after the designer's death is a reproduction.
Do you think that Charles and Ray Eames actually made each piece they designed? Can't you see orders piling up while good ol' Charlie and Ray slave at the Herman Miller factory making each and every piece of furniture they designed!
No, Sexy, any piece that continues to be made well after the dealth of the designer is not a reproduction, unless the manufacturer discontinues the piece and re-introduces it years later.
For example, Artek, founded by Alvar Aalto (and others), still make Aalto pieces after all of these years and they look the same.
Same goes with Fritz Hansen and the Arne Jacobsen and Poul Kjaegerholm stuff.
Sames goes with Knoll's studio pieces...the Womb Chair, Tulip collection, and Florence Knoll's pieces that are currently available have been made since the beginning.
Duh.....besides, I'm certain that Patrick and Alix will remove your postings, anyhow, because you're obviously promoting your knockoffs.
Finally, it's amazing that while you're promoting these Chinese knockoffs at reasonable prices, you gauge people with shipping charges.
Heck, none of the Herman Miller or Knoll retailer websites charge shipping, and believe me, they're working on a smaller mark-up than you are.
A reproduction is not a Genuine Design.
It is disinformation, a lesser product, a counterfeit,a fake. The author did not approve the creation, sale & distribution to the public. The genuine product will increase in value, the fake will not.
Piggybacking on a designer's talent by offering knock-off
reproductions is exploitative, unethical, & downright greedy. Counterfeiting adversely affects the economic opportunities of designers & manufacturers. Which in turn also affects the economy.
When these lesser products flood the market, are the original authors compensated? The royalties earned by struggling designers are miniscule. Counterfeits discourages future designers into the profession.
It would be ignorant to blatantly disregard these basic issues & promote an agenda counter to these ideals in this forum.
Intellectual property is a professional's greatest asset, to promote intellectual property theft is just plain destructive. You can not advocate theft of authorship even in death. There are living relatives to contend with & more importantly Living Legacies of the original authors.
Even if a product is made to original specification it does not make it legitimate. Making a dollar bill in your basement does not make it legal tender.
Attaching names of the original authors to reproductions is deceptive advertising & trademark infringement.
Any buyer who will support intellectual property theft is either a victim of deceptive advertising, an ignoramus or simpleton. If they are the market for these knock-offs
then it's a marriage made in heaven.
This conversation begs me ask a question:
Why in the heck doesn't these Chinese and Italian knockoffs factories use their brains and produce something that's NOT available?
If someone knocked off pieces that fetch big prices for vintage originals, but are not available currently, wouldn't you think they'd sell a heck of a lot better...and they could get higher prices?
Like, perhaps:
Nelson Kangaroo club chair
Eames rectangular coffee table
Noguchi rudder coffee table
Florence Knoll black and white coffee table
...not to mention tons of Nelson clocks
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