Walking through XXXX over the weekend I found a fantastic looking chair. It’s legs were skinny chrome tubes, its seat and back made from curvy laminated plywood. Best of all was the price – it was £60. If I bought the six that I needed for my dining room, I’d be spending as much as I would have for a single similar looking chair that I found up the road at the Conran Shop.
Had I come across the ultimate bargain? Or was this seemingly innocuous chair an example of a far more sinister movemnt that is overtaking the highstreet at the moment? The problem was that XXXXX’s seat was an imitation a chair that Charles Eames had designed in 1946 – the one that the Conran Shop is currently selling. The one that Vitra ownes the rights to. In shopping parlance, XXXXX”s cut price chair was a designer knock-off. A copy.
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