Rants and Raves | July 5, 20071 Comment

Beating the Knock-Offs

I got a catalog in the mail last week full of cheap knock-offs of high-end furniture. They had a Swan chair, Barcelona chair, Ant chair. You name it, they had it knocked off. And this isn’t just a catalog, it’s a big-bucket chain store from Texas!

I suppose they get away with it by changing some little thing in the design, calling it something different (but still similar) and of course the quality is cheap as can be. This is something that the original designers and producers are constantly chasing. Fritz Hansen says in their recent newsletter:

The value of original design is unquestionable! Original designs have never been more popular; the design classics are sold on auctions at very high prices. Regrettably, the downside of this popularity is the increasing number of knock-off pieces. It seems like a never-ending battle, but we’re taking different initiatives to underline the originality of our products. An upholstered piece of furniture will always carry a small Fritz Hansen label of origin.

This will guarantee that the chair is not only an original design but it’s also originally upholstered by Fritz Hansen. Moreover, a large part of our furniture has a unique number engraved in the frame. These measures help identifying original designs, even though most people can always tell a fake chair in terms of the overall quality, shape, dimensions, etc. In some markets this is indeed an impossible fight to win, in others, we’re able to stop the knock-offs.