With our ever increasing need to own products that are new and trendy, the world of designer knock-offs continue to thrive off the unwary masses. Iconic pieces of furniture and product design are becoming the targets of mass manufacturing factories located in various parts of the world.
Often the resellers will market the pieces in ways to avoid direct copyright infringement in ways such as Eames like or Panton style, sometimes they will play off the recognizable names such as the Uchi Coffee Table (it is Noguchi, he didn’t have a pet name for his table), and the most daring (or lazy) of those will just identify the knock offs as “designed by”.
The most often imitated pieces are quite well known by now, the Knoll Barcelona Chair and Herman Miller Eames Lounge & Ottoman. These days inferior quality products can be produced and brought to market so quickly that not only the classics are in danger.
The strangest happening I have come across in my search for design is when knock-offs are priced higher than those of the licensed manufacturer.
Buyer beware, know what you are buying before handing over your hard earned cash.