Watch this video now, before Ric Keefer decides to send them a cease-and-desist letter.
Click to watch:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1316333565/bctid1586418314
Really cool
and such good quality too.
But, I do have a question; how good are the Modernica chairs vs. the vintage Herman Miller?
I want to get a fiberglass shell side chair, probably with either the Eifel or Dowel base, and of course, when i want one, no one's got a single nice color side chair on eBay!
I have seen the new Herman Miller plastic and I don't like it, but it's great quality. I haven't seen a Modernica close-up. I certainly remember the fiberglass Herman Miller originals.
So, which way do I proceed?
This brings up another question; all of the Herman Miller/Knoll dealers (Retromodern, Hive, Highbrow, etc.) carry the Modernica Bubble Lamps and some of them carry some of the case study pieces, but none of them carry the Modernica Eames chair. Is the Modernica chair fully lisenced from Eames?
Eames hates Modernica
Modernica are totally NOT licensed. To quote Eames Demetrios in his letter to Dwell Magazine:
"Those knockoffs have nothing to do with the Eames Office, run by the Eames family and which, at Charles and Ray's request, ensures that Eames designs are made the way they should be. The only original equipment which might matter is the molds, which Modernica does not have (despite their implications)."
This is one of those misconceptions/rumors that float around that Modernica never addresses because it helps their sales. In all Modernica advertising, you will never see the word "Eames", because of course, the name "Eames" is licensed trademark.
The Eames family despises Modernica, read old thread here:
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
What color
are you looking for?
The fiber appeal of the HM shells can not be matched by Modernica.
I have a Modernica arm shell and it is pretty nice in a unique color. I believe it is even a bit thicker than the original shells. However, it came with some surface cracks along the underside of the edges which I was not too pleased about. I exchanged it for another and it had the same problem.
Barry,
here's a photo from flickr (check the link for higher resolution).
The fibres do look different from hm shells. Also think of all the fun you're missing if you go for buying at Modernica instead of hunting them...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasspics/2869029099/in/pool-eames
I would love to find a real vintage
Eames Fiberglass side chair with the standard 4 leg base, eifel or dowel in blue or green.
I wonder...how can Modernica be a legit dealer of the Bubble Lamps, yet produce knockoffs without permission? Wouldn't you think those dealers that only handle Modernica's Bubbles would tell them that they won't carry their lamps if they continue to produce knockoff Eames fiberglass chairs, fake Florence Knoll seating and phony Saarinen Grasshopper chairs?
Some thoughts
I think the Fiberglass movie is on the 5 disk set. I saw it at a DWR event with a woman named Jehane Kuhn. Among the neater things about Ms. Kuhn, in addition to her former employment at the Eames Office, is that her backside is featured in the green dress at the beginning of this movie. 🙂
Barry - I was thoroughly unimpressed with Modernica's shells. Dull and lifeless, sort of like their sales staff when I visited.
What really irks me about Modernica is their trend towards dishonesty. They clearly imply that their fiberglass chairs are true to the design. They claim use of original machinery, and 'authentic' material. Which is false. They use old fiberglass presses, but not the actual tooling. And the Eames NEVER designed a fiberglass bar/counter stool.
Also kind of sleazy is the entire page devoted to how wonderful recycled fiberglass really is. But, you'll note that there isnt any indication that THEIR chairs contain any recycled fiberglass...
As to their success with the bubble lamps...who knows? Maybe they are too valuable for some retailers to let go of. Case in Point - Jaqueline Nelson auth'd them to make the bubble lamps, but not the Case Study daybed.
some thoughts...
In a forum as informative as DA, one would expect a clearer division between opinion and information. I can sympathize with those who support the claims of the Eames family. I can even understand the often repeated claim that the ?licenced? production will increase in value and the so called copies will not. But the first is an opinion and the second is a speculation. The facts are that Modernica has all legal rights to produce a design that has been in the public domain (meaning owned by every one of us) for quite some time. It is fully understandable that former owners of that intellectual property try to preserve it by all legal means; after all it has been a secure and relatively effortless income for many years.
Our opinions do not change the legal reality which is that the legislator and international conventions, in putting a limit to the time an invention or an original model for a product is protected, has expressed the simple reality that an invention or a model for a product is not only the result of the creativity of a person but also of the education she or he got and the influence of the ?spirit of the time?. We might disagree with these considerations, we might even want to change them but it does not change the facts. In a forum like this one where a number of different interests meet, one should be able to make the difference between an informed opinion, an uninformed one and the simple facts. It certainly would serve the un-initiated better and introduce them properly to the world of design.
It is obvious that both Modernica and Herman Miller have all kind of interests in not telling the full truth. But this should the place where these particular interests are put into the right perspective and be looked at critically.
Koen, Modernica is one of the weird exceptions
because on one hand, they produce the Nelson Bubble Lamps, which are sold by tons of dealers and distributors who also are proud Herman Miller and Knoll dealers and distributors, yet Modernica ALSO produces (apparent) knockoff furniture originally designed by George Nelson, Charles & Ray Eames, Florence Knoll and Eero Saarinen, that those dealers and distributors (apparently) wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
That's what makes Modernica so weird.
Incidentally, I was in New York City last June and went to the Modernica store down in SoHo, but they had closed their doors less than a month before.
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