Knoll Saarinen tulip table Italian factory  

You get what you pay for
Simon Hans,
The label is only a small part of the overall transaction, but it is the part that assures quality. Buy a knock off and you will get what you pay for both in the short term and more importantly in the long term.

I don't know about the sourcing, but
the knockoff's base is lacquered. The base of the real thing is powder-coated (Rilsan finish). Lacquer chips a lot more easily than powder-coated, doesn't it?
Then there's all the ethics of ripping off someone else's design and whether or not you want to support that...

And the knock-off's tip over quite easily.
^___

very interesting
the devil IS in the details!
yes when reading the "fine print" B2YH's tulip pieces are lacquered aluminum, not the Rilsan(R) coated finish from Knoll... So the "Italian factory" is either different or it produces different lines, one for Knoll and one for knock-offs.
What is jarring is that the price of this "high end" knock off would be 3900$, just 2000$ short of what I would pay for the real thing. At that price, couldn't they make an effort an do an exact replica? The material costs must be a fraction of the bill anyway...
Anyhow, thank you for the input!
Simon