Faking it or making it?

by VISI EDITOR Jacquie Myburgh Chemaly

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This is a touchy one, but it’s time that we speak out about copying in the design industry. It happens here, it happens abroad. It happens in fashion, it happens in food. But does that make it okay?

There are dozens of wannabe Ferran Adrias around the world, dipping egg yolks into dry ice as we speak. Are they copycats or disciples?

In fashion, the design houses seem to be accustomed to the fact that the minute a garment appears on the catwalk, it’s being knocked off by Zara or H&M and appears at a fraction of the price on the high street.

I don’t feel good about it but at least it means you and I can wear the latest fashion – a guilty pleasure, it’s called.

I’m not talking about Louis Vuitton copies here, but about the imitation of design and putting your own name on it. There’s something not right about copying the ideas of others, probably depriving them of some sales and thereby devaluing the original design.

But what’s to do for those who will never afford the real thing?

It’s common knowledge I covet an Eames chair and I came close to buying the R7,000 version sold at one of the retail chains – I think it was @home – that was selling them in black and in white earlier this year.

I didn’t buy it because I realised that now everyone and his dog would have an “Eames chair” in their TV room, and suddenly the allure faded. It’s the exclusiveness of design that makes it so desirable, but also so “copy-able”.

I can name dozens of similar examples where international design icons are being mass-produced at half the price – and usually half the quality too. So you pay for what you get if you buy the cheapie, and the original designs will always find a home with the rich and famous. Besides, those in the know can identify the real thing a mile away.

But the story changes when it’s closer to home. What happens when one South African designer appears to be inspired by another? Is that okay?

The latest copying saga is that of the Mud Studio clay bead chandelier: a beautiful creation that has won awards and is sold in decor emporiums overseas, it is also a heart-warming story of rural empowerment.

Now there’s an imitator, coming in at a much lower price, and Mud is in trouble. I feel for them but they say there’s nothing they can do. It’s not possible to patent a design as classic as that of a chandelier.

The magazine world isn’t untouched by accusations of imitations. There have been numerous stories flying around of late, accusing local titles of copying ideas from overseas magazines.

I wouldn’t sleep at night if I knew that I was passing off another person’s work as my own. That’s cheating. But I also can’t say I haven’t been inspired by the dozens of magazines I constantly consume and am beginning to wonder where inspiration ends and imitation begins.

It’s an impossible test. All we have is our conscience and that little voice inside that tells us if we’re doing the right thing. Let’s listen to it.

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