Design Stores
Design Republic
Design Republic is a new furniture shop that opened in the Burroughes Building on Queen West. This welcome addition to the strip sells a wide mix of stools, chairs, sofas, and tables.
Among the standouts is a collection are reclaimed barnboard tables in various shapes, sizes, colours and finishes. These sturdy tables have solid metal designed bases, and as a bonus, many have adjustable feet. The reasonable prices reflect the quality of work and materials. (Prices vary - two dining room tables I liked were $1,400 and $1,988)
The ubiquitous Denial, A.K.A. Daniel Bombardier has a virtual monopoly on the vertical spaces in this beautiful room. His art is a heady mashup of retro and graffitti and would enliven any room that needs a design kick. (Prices vary - one, called Mixtape was $1,000.)
My first encounter with this store was when I was rushing past it, late for a meeting. I spied the perfect trifecta of an Eames chair, a Wegner Wishbone chair, and a Starck Ghost chair through the window and vowed to come back.
However, Like Kevin Kline in "A Fish Called Wanda", I was, "DISAPPOINTED!"
Replicas. Knock-offs. Copies. Fakes. Call them what you will. They are a cheaply made copy of a popular design using cheaper materials. Thinner metals and using plastic instead of the original leather or fiberglass. They are functional and a fraction of the original price, which makes them attractive to those who cannot afford the real thing.
I get that. But does that make it ok? Emphatically, No!
All good artists and designers have had their work copied - it's not cool. When you put time, effort and inspiration into your work - then to have someone come along and make a cheap copy steals money from your pocket. On top of that, when it breaks in six months and people think it was one of yours, that cheapens your brand or name.
The real Hans Wegner Wishbone chair, designed back in 1949 for Carl Hansen & Sons, is available from Holace Cluny for $999. It's a solid yet lightweight stunner. You can purchase a "replica" of this nearly 60-year old design classic at Republic for $278. Should you? I don't think so - but you may feel differently.
Photos by Dennis Marciniak
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"..when it breaks in six months and people think it was one of yours, that cheapens your brand or name."
Seriously?! Are they actually passing this stuff off as authentic? "Emphatically", no! Most of the stores along this stretch of Queen (Morba, Urban Barn etc...) peddle the exact same type designer inspired knock-offs and not one of them misrepresent the quality or brands of authentic designer pieces.
Next time you're in one of these stores, you might want to talk to another customer or two. You'll quite likely find that every one of them knows EXACTLY what they're looking at.
Smarten up.
And as usual, @BlogTO's definition of "affordable" doesn't mix with my own. Not everyone takes home a minimum of $75K a year, guys.
A large part of the aesthetic and philosophy of this type of design had to do with good design being affordable and accessible and since 2000 with the resurgence of this era, places like Design Within Reach (talk about misrepresenting your product!!) charge outrageous amounts for the originals. A Barcelona chair at DWR is $4888 whereas I can get 90% of that chair at UpCountry for $650 or 85% less. Furthermore, the actual cost of manufacturing those 2 pieces is less than $60 (I've got friends in high and low places:).
I'm not saying I agree with stealing intellectual property, I'm vehemently against it actually, but what I think we're witnessing here is the same thing that did in the Recording Industry. For too long we overpaid and then finally when we could get back at them, we did.
I'd argue the opposite of Ian and say that it's the top end retailers that have sown the seeds of their own problem and by extension, are responsible for the cheapening of the brand.
besides, unless i'm mistaken not only were all chairs made in england in the late 1800s "victorian" chairs, where one designer/craftsman would just copy every other designer/craftsman, but also knockoffs tend to be discernibly different.
you can't copyright or patent a design or a look of chair. so there is nothing illegal about selling a cheaper chair that has the same design as an expensive chair.
We got a message from Craig (owner) and he's having a 20% off everything sale today. It's a customer appreciation gesture.
ps - we have kids over all the time and cats and dogs on all our furniture and I am thankful for a sofa that costs only 800 to replace, as it needs to be replaced every few years.
We bought down the street at PAvillion
Also check out www.denialart.com
later
D
Will people really think they're getting a real Eames chair at less than 30% of the cost? Come on. If you even know what an Eames chair looks like, you also know what the real thing costs. Ergo, you'll know the knock-off ain't the real McCoy. What a ridiculous rant.
Also, knock-offs in the wider context do not cheapen the brand. Brand owners cheapen the brand when they get greedy for the consumer market. When a brand tries to get stores into every suburban shopping mall across North America, it can't complain that it's lost its cachet. And you really think people who buy knock-off Rolexes think Rolexes are crap when their fakes fall apart? You think people will stop buying Rolexes because tourists are buying fakes in Hong Kong for $40?
Someone has a consumer-level understanding of what a brand is and how it works.
I will never buy anything from them again.
Furniture is not protected by Canadian copyright/protection laws. To the law a chair is a chair.
as far as "knockoffs" go if you want a roche bobois couch go to the store and pay 10 to 20k for one we can all afford it. or better yet suite 22 in markham has bar stool made in italy for 500 to 2000 each
go pick some up
clothes and watches that are knock offs is one thing i dont agree with but furniture is something i can let slide cmon people get real
unless everyone here makes a cool mil a year
i dont