What do people think of Lauritz press release today regarding the sale of Eames copy shells and reproduction bases? After a few days in the news here in Sweden and Denmark, Lauritz today released an official statement.
Personally I wasn't even aware of any decent copies of the shells...
When it comes to the repro-bases... Now Lauritz say they have "decided in future only to sell Eames shells with legs produced by Vitra and not by other producers".
Of course an auction house always has to be clear in describing what they are selling and I have noticed that Lauritz have sometimes failed to mention that a base isn't original. (Btw, this happens elsewhere as well, Stockholms Auktionsverk has even included Eames RAR with repro bases in their "Modern Quality" auctions at several occasions.)
Still I wonder if Lauritz decision to only offer chairs with Vitra bases is taking it one step too far. Sure, Vitra owns the right to sell furniture associated with the Eames name, but the product they are offering isn't as close to the original design as for example Modernica. -And just look at the wide-version of the Eiffel-base...
I understand Lauritz are just trying to save their own skin right now, but I think the Vitra-deal looks a little desperate.
http://www.lauritz.com/en/lauritz-com%E2%80%99s-sale-of-eames-chairs/a9002/0/0/
I am very impressed
by the lengths to which Lauritz are willing to go in order to correct these errors. With so much merchandise passing through, I suppose it's inevitable that mistakes like this will happen, but their response is outstanding.
As for their refusal to sell chairs with non-Vitra bases... It's like the old phrase that used to be heard in the corporate IT industry, "No one ever got fired for buying IBM": Regardless of the merits of other manufacturers' bases, Vitra is the only safe choice (in Europe, anyway) when authenticity is an issue.
For Lauritz at this moment, authenticity of their Eames shells is of paramount importance, so the Vitra-only decision is the best one they could have made. If buyers truly prefer Modernica's bases to Vitra's, sellers will offer chairs without bases.
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