Designers are always dealing with the curse of having their creativity knocked off and sold for a lot less money. I thought that from time to time I’d highlight a few and ask you to judge which you’d prefer. Today’s case in point is Marc Sadler’s Twiggy Lamp for Foscarini, versus CB2’s Bauhaus Arc Lamp.
The Twiggy version is made of a compound fiber material, has a beautiful, graceful line, and comes in a variety of colors. CB2’s version is quite awkward in comparison, yet looks mysteriously like the original. It’s made of aluminum with an iron base and comes in two colors.
The difference in price is substantial. Twiggy retails for $2,022 (including free shipping if you buy it from Hive Modern). It’s also available from Property. The CB2 sells for $199, plus $20 for shipping.
To be honest, one can often argue that something is an inspiration based on someone else’s design, as opposed to an actual knock-off. But where do you draw the line? So I’m wondering…
What’s your opinion on buying a copy? Does this count as one, or is it an inspiration? Is price more important than design theft?
RSS Feed
I dunno. So much as we try to protect intellectual/creative property, it seems to me that once you put it out there, it’s no longer yours.
It’s a wild world and you don’t know where your stuff will wind up.
I once had a blog I had written forwarded to me in a huge email chain, with no credit given to the author (me) forwarded by hundreds of people, none of whom I knew.
I was mad at first (someone had added cheesy clip art to it) but then I began to laugh. It was called “Orgasms 101″ and sometimes I wondered if my mom read it.
She loves those email forwards.
First I’m not sure how original the orginal is. Over the years lamps similar to this have come and gone. These two look different enough that I’d say they were definitely more “inspired” pieces.
I feel about design knock-offs like I do about posters and prints. It isn’t for everyone and it certainly isn’t my preference but when you’re resigned to a tight budget and your options are a knock off, something that’s ugly but in your budget or doing without…. it doesn’t leave many choices. Most of the people who are buying knock-offs are more than likely people who couldn’t or wouldn’t ever buy the real piece anyhow. If I were a designer I’d license my own knock offs by making a few changes so that I wouldn’t lose out.
Waterford did it with their Marquis line. A Waterford product but at a lower price point. More and more companies are doing it so as not to lose out on the entire range of customers.