"Original" versus "Copy" About the Authenticity of Reproductions

Is steelform.com selling knock-offs?

If you ask this question to the sales representative at your local high-end furniture studio, the answer will certainly be "YES".

On the other hand, all that you can buy nowadays, non regarding from whom and at whatever price, is nothing but a revised ad enhanced reproduction or reedition of furniture designs and prototypes projected many decades ago.

In many cases today's reproductions are all but exactly according to the original design or prototype and there is nothing wrong about this. Au contraire, it suits them very well.

When Le Corbusier's assistants tried to bend tubes for the first frames of his armchairs, it was all experimental and far away from beeing suitable for everyday use. The results were mocked as "hospital furniture" and in fact they did not look at all attractive.

Various editions by different manufacturers over the decades have since then been introducing new techniques and materials until the designs reached their present shape and lastly became famous and a business success.

Given this, how could we now determine which is "original" and what is a "plagiat"? Whenever a product is the outcome of a long development process, can we still call it original? We don't think so, in the same way that we don't consider industrial design being art.

This distinction is but a strong marketing argument and the question should now be put differently: "Who is claiming to have the sole right to produce and sell this piece of furniture?"

Those who do so, were pioneers in this industry and earned great merit in developing the products, making them known and establishing high quality standards. They are selling great products who fully deserve their reputation.

Unfortunately, they are also maintaining a very high price level which can not solely be justified with the excellent quality. This is why our manufacturers in Italy can offer perfectly comparable products at a much lesser price. We at steelform.com do so since the mid 1980ies and according to italian copyright law (and to most other countries in the world) this is perfectly legal. Read more about this in our article about legal issues.

Ironic, that we now find ourselves in a similar position facing competitors who are offering very unexpensive products on the market. Unlike we did twenty years ago, they are not too bothered with quality and even less with truth to the original design.

Reason enough for us to take even greater efforts to further enhance the quality of our products.