So... Modernica.
I have one of their Case Study beds, and I like it a lot -- more than the Nelson Thin Edge bed, actually, since it's bigger -- and I have a Modernica Bubble Lamp that, as everyone says, really does seem better than the Howard Miller version (although it's hard to make a fair comparison since the HM lamps are all so old).
I decided recently to buy an ESU and the matching desk. I hadn't ever seen a Modernica ESU in person, but I keep reading that Modernica used to make the ESU for Herman Miller, and that "the only difference is the label", plus I know that MY Modernica stuff is built really well... So I let the Herman Miller sale come and go last month, and planned to buy from Modernica instead.
Drove a cargo van down to LA from the Bay Area on Thursday for Modernica's sale. Fully expected to drive back that evening with an Eames desk and maybe an ESU if they happened to have one in the configuration I wanted, plus a couple of their LTR tables and maybe even another Bubble Lamp.
Wow, what a disappointment.
Their Case Study desk is an astonishingly bad reproduction of the Eames desk; they make it by slapping a Fisher-Price-looking slab of plywood -- at least twice as thick as Herman Miller's, with huge-radius rounded corners -- on top of a cut-down 2x2 ESU frame. Because the base has the small footprint of an ESU, the legs aren't anywhere near the corners of the desk, and the bay on the side is way wider and significantly shallower than it should be. It looks like a homemade craft project.
The ESUs are the right size and have the right proportions, at least... But the panel colors were off, and the workmanship we saw on the units at the sale was really sloppy. The sliding wooden doors didn't slide well, and they weren't matched; I don't think I saw ONE unit that didn't have one door lighter or darker than its others. The drawers were sticky. The central L-braces passed through deep, unfinished slots in the shelves and the top. Some tall bays had short-bay panels installed. Glides were missing.
The more I looked, the less I liked nearly everything. The LTRs had their mounting tabs WELDED to the base. The welds on the non-adjustable discs that pass for glides on the Ox and Easy chairs hadn't been ground down before being plated. They had a bunch of Case Study beds lined up; headboards weren't all the same height, wood stains weren't consistent, etc. The Bubble Lamps were beautiful, of course, but have they stopped making the tall tripod floor stands? The generic chrome stands I saw were butt-ugly.
At least I was able to get a table at my favorite LA restaurant before going home empty-handed; that took some of the sting out of driving twelve hours for nothing.
Anyway, here's my question: Did something recently change at Modernica, or did I just get lucky with the bed and lamp and have they always been like this?
That was very interesing
thanks for the detailed report.
I don't understand Modernica. They produce copies of currently available Herman Miller and Knoll products right under their noses, in plain sight, without anyone trying to stop them.
They seem to have exclusivity with the Bubble Lamps and stores and websites that are legit Herman Miller and Knoll distributors cheerfully carry Modernica's Bubble Lamp, yet won't touch Modernica's copies of Eames, Saarinen and George nelson stuff.
It's still a confusing situation...thanks for reporting what you saw.
Sorry, but not surprised
Sucks that you had to drive all that way. I've never really been impressed with Modernica's quality other than the Bubble Lamps and the occasional Eames chair base that I've come across...
I looked at the Case Study daybed a few years back - I really liked the walnut finish, until I saw it in person and realized it's maple plywood with a brown 'walnut' stain on it. Not to mention their sales staff was BEYOND clueless. Also, they don't make any of their products very easy to assemble. The Daybed is a giant plank of plywood that you need to screw the legs/back in yourself. (they don't even do you the favor of pre-drilling the holes)
And we've all seen what they've done with the "Prince Charles" chair...of which the only thing clever is being able to tie Charles' name to their chairs.
Early Modernica, one with...
Early Modernica, one with ties to Herman Miller, was much more respectable. My ESU from this association is fantastic circa 1999/2000.
Based on that, I would have never guessed your experience would have been what it was. Even if it was a sale.
If I recall correctly, DWR's was selling a Nelson bed in one piece as well. The version they stock now can be dismantled. Forgot who is currently making them.
So maybe they HAVE changed
WoofWoof: Ok, so I guess that explains why the HM-vs-Modernica debates that I've read here don't usually talk about relative quality but instead begin by stipulating that the two companies' products are physically almost identical, and then move on to legalities and abstractions. Maybe the people involved in those discussions just haven't seen the latest Modernica pieces.
Or maybe what we saw at the sale was an anomaly. I mean, they certainly didn't advertise it as a sale for scratch-n-dent or factory-seconds merchandise, but I can see how quality might suffer in the rush to prepare for such a big event.
It's just that, um... If you have to let build quality suffer somewhere, don't let it suffer on an item like the ESU; do it on something that DOESN'T already look at first glance like something that anyone could build at home. The ESU, like all pieces with that characteristic (e.g., the Red-Blue Chair -- are there others?) REQUIRES absolutely perfect fit and finish because that's all that differentiates it from something that really WAS built in a high-school wood shop.
Sigh... Did I mention the wavy, uneven stitching on the wire-chair bikini pads? I have to be honest: I couldn't do it any better (it requires stitching, through thick naugahyde, a curve that matches the shape of the chair)... But I don't work in a furniture factory. If I DID, I'd expect to be able to make that highly-visible stitch PERFECTLY. Or at least I'd expect to be EXPECTED to.
I don't know... Again, maybe what we saw wasn't representative of what they usually sell.
Oh, I finally found some Modernica desk photos on the web so I can show what I was talking about when I said that the proportions were all wrong. If you're interested, compare these photos (HM):
http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Eames-Desk-and-Storage-Units
to these (Modernica):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swade/3586597590/http://www.unplggd.com/uimages/unplggd/2008-3-18-eamesdesk.jp g" target="_blank">
See the difference in desktop thickness, and how the Modernica drawer is almost exactly the same size as the HM, but rotated 90 degrees so as to force the desk's owner way off to one side? Yeah... That's beautiful. Not.
what did you really expect ?
did you really think that buying knock-off products from modernica was going to be as good or better than the real thing ?
i don't understand, do you really identify with the under-dog so strongly you would go out of your way to buy knock-offs ?
its always a BAD idea to buy knock-offs. ALWAYS.
Well, actually... Yeah.
Chewbacca: Of course I agree with you in the general case, but in this particular case -- because of 1) my personal experience with two Modernica products that seem better-built than the originals, and 2) all that I've read here and elsewhere -- I believed that the Modernica ESU and desk would be essentially identical to the HM pieces, so, yeah, I was surprised to discover that they were so different.
All else being equal, I'd rather not support knockoff manufacturers whose success hurts the licensed manufacturers (it doesn't cost me anything to take that position; I don't need my furniture to be brand-new, so I can always find the real thing at auction for less than a new knockoff of similar quality)... But, like Barry, I'm confused by Herman Miller's reaction -- or, rather, non-reaction -- to Modernica.
If Herman Miller doesn't seem to mind what Modernica's doing, should I?
That was mostly a rhetorical question, of course... But if it's necessary, I'll have the usual pointless discussion about licensing, royalties, intent, Gresham's Law, etc. My heart won't really be in it, though, since I've already ordered a Herman Miller ESU and EDU.
I've used
I've used this comparison before, but Herman Miller's attitude is the same one the Royal Family uses in England - to entertain contenders to the throne would admit that they exist. There are no contenders to the throne besides the Royal Family.
Also, it is neither cheap nor easy. I once had a conversation with the owner of a well known company (for discretion I'm going to omit the name) We were discussing knock-off quality and he mentioned that he was only 4 days into pursuing litigation against a knock-off company that was a) using the original companies LOGO! b)using the original companies NAME c) using the original companies PHOTOS and d) using the original companies product literature COPY. The owner of the original company said after only 4 days he was out $10,000. I just checked and the knock-off website still has images/name/logo on their website...a year later.
And seriously effed up proportions on the Modernica desk!
Big misconception...
fastfw's comments regarding the Modernica desks being a poor reproduction is actually a misconception. The Modernica desks are actually much more true to the original design than the desks that are released today from Herman Miller.
The reason many people may think the Modernica version is a poor reproduction is actually more to do with the fact that the desk that HM produces today vs the one Modernica produces are actually reproductions of different desks. The HM model being a reproduction of the D-10-N while the Modernica desk being a reproduction of the D-20-C. Don't believe me? Look at the Herman Miller catalog from 1951.
http://www.eamesoffice.com/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/images...
While fastfwd's comments note the table tops being twice as thick as the desks offered today from Herman Miller you'll see that from the catalog that that spec is in the original design. Meanwhile, if you look at the desk that HM produces they cut corners using a much thinner table top with another black layer of wood underneath. Not true to the original design...
I personally own one of the Modernica desks and I can say I find that the build-quality and attention to detail far exceeds that of Herman Miller. People wonder why Herman Miller isn't shutting down Modernica and perhaps it is the Royal Family attitude. But I would argue that it could also be because they know Modernica is making a better product. In more ways than build-quality mind you. It's actually more true to the original design.
I know people can complain night and day about not owning the license = knock-off (thievery, etc) but when I find third parties doing a way better job of doing these designs justice like Modernica has I applaud them for it. And will buy their products over HM any day. I have the utmost respect for the Eames and all but if they (or those who are anal about officially licensed manufacturering) are going to be pissed at anyone it should be Herman Miller for not making things to the original spec. Thats what people want. Its called timeless design for a reason. And if anyone is perpetuating its timelessness it's Modernica.
http://www.eamesoffice.com/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/images...
Thanks, Tyson.
Thanks for posting that. Until you pointed it out, I hadn't noticed that the original desks in that old brochure were made with the thick tops. Just goes to show you that everything can be improved.
Only my opinion, of course. Some people care about trueness to the original design, some care about licensing, some just know what they like. I REALLY prefer the thin top and the current HM proportions (60" x 28" top with a narrow pedestal, which is different from BOTH the original D-10 and D-20), but tastes differ, naturally.
All that aside, though, the desks I saw at the sale really were horribly built, and the pedestal depth on the one I measured was only 16" -- WAY too small -- so the legs were just completely misplaced. It looked AWFUL.
However... I'm very happy with my older Modernica pieces, as I said before, and other people say that their older pieces are well-built, too. I'd really like to know whether I was looking at a representative sample of Modernica's current work or just at the result of a frantic push to fill their warehouse for the sale.
When did you buy your desk?
[Attaching a Modernica photo (top) and an HM photo (bottom) so no one has to copy-and-paste URLs from our posts]
My Modernica desk
I bought my Modernica desk last May. I've always found Modernica's build quality very high so I'd be interested in seeing what these pieces looked like that you saw. Here's a pic of my desk... Also worth noting that Modernica offers custom options for panels and wood finishes that HM doesn't which many might find more appealing. Its actually something Herman Miller used to offer when the ESU products were originally produced. I can't say if that applies to all the options Modernica offers but many of them were, such as multiple drawer configurations.
Interesting
Interesting that your desk was made recently. I wish I'd taken photos of the stuff I saw at the sale...
Anyway, yeah, the custom options were intriguing. Before I drove down there, I spent some time on the Modernica website costing out a 5x2 ESU with two drawer bays... If I'd been more impressed by what I saw at the sale, I might have ordered one like that. As it turned out, the 4x2 Herman Miller ESU that I ended up with is plenty big enough for my needs.
Hey, is that a Jellyfish holding up your laptop?
Thick vs. Thin
Tyson: It appears that the original (1950s) desks were made with BOTH thick and thin tops. Photos from Wright's recent Eames auction (thick 60" 1950 D-20-N, thin 48" 1950 D-10-C, thin 60" 1952 desk+return):
http://www.wright20.com/auctions/view/JKMK/JKML/703/LA/none/JWLU/0
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