Often times I've read on this forum advice from those that say never to buy a repro. I've thought about this and have this response:
I think there should only be one instance when one is to buy a reproduction / knock off. And that is when the original is simply not available anywhere - retail or vintage.
For example, someone on this forum once pointed out a site (I've since forgotten the site name) where you could buy repros of the Eames/Saarinen chair(s) entered into the 1940 Organic Design in Home Furnishings MoMA competition. And that's brilliant! It's even interesting further because that chair was suggested to be a failure ultimately because it could never be mass produced without the problems it encountered in it's making.
So, in this instance, it's available again (though how it's built may differ from the original)and it's implied meaning for simply existing is interesting.
Another example is some of what Modernica offers.
Nate...I agree with you in theory....
the only known knockoffs I own are a few of the Nelson wall clocks, a Wassily chair in black leather (bought at a local antique store for $200.00) and when I found out it was a fake-er-roo, I decided to buy a Chinese-made Eileen Gray count metal and glass table to sit next to it!
All of my other pieces are real - to the best of my knowledge.
NOW....if some enterprising Chinese factory decides to produce Nelson clocks that are not available anywhere else, I'd be all over them.
These Alphaville-type businesses are usually too stupid to reproduce something that can't be had anywhere else.
I'd be especially nervous about buying Chinese-made upholstered classics because of the issue of quality and material safety.....although I'm AM lusting after a Hoffman Kubus sofa because I will NOT pay $7000.00 for an Eames sofa, alas.
In a related topic, I occasionally buy Korean/Taiwanese region -0- DVDs...especially when the title is not available here in the US. But I DO rebuy it when it does get issued here, because it's the proper thing to do.
Theory
Eh...always an excuse/rationale. While in theory this makes sense I still think it falls into the "I want it, therefore I can have it" mindset, the same kind of thinking that people use to rationalize buying knock-offs that CAN be had in licensed forms but are cost prohibitive. Whats wrong with just liking something from afar? Or accepting that certain things might just be out of reach?
Every day I walk past DWR on my way to work and look in the window and think "God the Eames lounge is a beautiful chair!" Someday I may own it, but for right now I'm content admiring it from the window.
PS: The Saarinen/Eames organic chair can be had in licensed form from Vitra.
http://vitra.com/products/designer/charles_eames_eero_saarinen/organic_c...
As per usual I shall speak the case for logic on this subject
Many so called 'real' or 'licensed' pieces are no more authentic than the knockoff. Period. Many of these companies claiming 'authenticity' only own the rights to used a long dead person's name or the name of the design. Many of them DO NOT repeat DO NOT own the rights to the design itself. The design has long sinced passed into public domain. Therefore, a good repro is as good as anything from a 'licensed' source, but, of course, you need to be an informed buyer and pay attention to the specs and the workmanship.
For the life of me I do not understand why folks keep perpetuating the fiction that there is something holy and pure about the pieces made by the license holder of just a name. It may very well be true that these pieces are produced at a higher quality, but that may not always be true. But paying much much more money to a company that has possesion of some legalistic paperwork seems a strange position for such educated folks to take.
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Barcelona chair, good first example. Wassily chair falls into this catagory as well. In both cases Knoll owns the names. Wikipedia is a good sourse to find these things out. However below is a good aricle.
http://www.purecontemporary.com/FeatureArticle/article/6
Where the money goes
Olive, while I get the point about Knoll not being the original manufacturer of the Barcelona I disagree that there licensed pieces are 'no more authentic' for the very reason that authentic pieces are made using the original designs. Mies himself bequeathed his archives & designs to the Museum of Modern Art, who contracted Knoll to continue production. Vitra uses original Nelson Associates drawings in their production of the clocks. Herman Miller uses original Eames and Nelson drawings for their productions. This is why knock-offs are almost exclusively inferior to authentic pieces - they dont use the original designs and specifications. They cut corners, use crap materials, and often bastardize the original intent (A Corbu sectional?!)
And more importantly - most authentic pieces contribute percentages of profits back to the institution or foundation that holds the license: Knoll kicks back to MoMA, Cassina kicks back to the LeCorbusier Foundation, Herman Miller to the Eames family and Eames Foundation, Vitra to the Nelson estate, among others. Knock-offs are purely for-profit off of someone elses design, with little regard for the history or context in which they were produced, with little regard for environmental or human rights, and with very little attention paid to quality.
This is where the heart of the matter gets all congested.
LuciferSum your point about the percentage of proceeds to support foundations is a good one and I am certainly in favor of preserving design history of all eras.
However, every time I attempt to discuss this matter here on DA folks get all up in arms about 'garbage chinese' products and invalid specs. And I have said time and time again ad nauseum, that no one should buy clearly inferior goods. I don't buy crap, I buy the best I can afford, always. I can't afford Knoll.
However, being of sound mind and possessing intelligence I can seek out and find a producer that is making a reproduction that follows the original design. It may not reach the highest standards of material use but it can be well and truly made and that is enough for me. The specs ARE publically available, even if Knoll or whomever holds them. The Wassily originals are in the MOMA and they are available to the public. Knoll dearly wants you to think otherwise, but its true. Knoll is the license holder because the MOMA contracted them for production. And Knoll themselves are making reproductions unless they are producing to the exact manufacturing format and have not evolved the process one iota. In some cases even the almighty Knoll and Herman Miller have made changes in dimensions. **GASP** Time marches on and change happens.
A Le Corbu sectional is a travesty and anyone who appreciates mid-century design is aware that this would be an unacceptable product to purchase. If you want a sectional buy a contemporary piece. I also don't understand the idea of buying for resale value. Don't you want the piece in your home? Don't you want to sit on it? It's a piece of furniture, it's meant to be used not hung on the wall as art. Buying only to worry about selling is a crappy way to enjoy your stuff in my book.
Olive
I'm in complete agreement with you that Knoll makes reproductions - albeit authorized. What I think makes auth'd products better is that they usually ARE up to the high standards of production - using good materials and good craft etc.
Its hard not to argue against the Chinese garbage because almost all of it IS garbage. It's a hollow approximation of what was a beautiful design, and thats just painful to some of us who are (perhaps a little more than is healthy) emotionally invested. I certainly wish you no hurt feelings - but the more and more I delve into the world of knock-offs I see nothing but shoddy workmanship, awful pollution, damage to the economy, damage to the designers reputation and really poor, poor quality. Those things are enough to drive me towards an auth'd product, let alone the history, the pairing of a designer with a company, or the knowledge that my purchase supports the legacy and history of a designer i am fond of.
Lucifer Sum
Actually I am with you. I don't own many 'pedigreed' pieces. I have 2 Wassily chairs, a Nelson Bench and a Saarinen Womb chair. Only the Wassily's are 'knockoffs'. I got them from DWR years back when DWR was first starting out. The chairs are well-made and match the original specs except for a 0.5" difference in seat height. My other two MCM pieces, the bench and the womb chair are actually licensed pieces from HM and Knoll respectively. I got them at trade prices through an achitect friend. And the reasons for doing so were quality. Pure and simple nothing else came close in production value to what was made by HM and Knoll. I don't feel like a hippocrite though, as my main rant has always been, and will always be:
Get the best value for money... Caveat Emptor!
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