Why on earth did you not return it?

Absolutely. Definitely worth splurging on the real thing when it comes to all furniture in my opinion. You want it to last!

If an item will see heavy use (coffee machine, vehicle tires), and/or I'm very dependent on it being comfortable (mattress, office chair), I will get the best quality I can find / spend signifcantly more, but only after doing a great deal of research on the product.

I'm also firm devotee of the wisdom that mixing higher and lower quality is the best way to acheive a balanced aesthetic.

I would have liked to spend $1500 on a new desk and console for my office. I decided that the $600 version met my needs. My office chair, however, is a non-negotiable because I have a pinched nerve, a thorasic disc injury, and short legs, thus a hyper adjustable and supportive chair is worth the spend.

When do I spend more just because I like the look better? As often as I can afford to. And yes, I will wait and save up for those Robert Abbey crystal lamps @ $350 ea, rather than get the knockoffs for $100 ea.

I feel if you have to save for something then your living out of your means. If you don't have 3x times the amount of money that the item costs you probably shouldn't be buying it.

Totally separate from the manufacturing quality, Herman Miller has the best customer service I've ever encountered. A piece broke on our 5-year-old Aeron chair and they sent a TECHNICIAN to fix it. Free. As my husband says, it's all we can do to keep Herman Miller himself from rising from the grave to come over and fix stuff.

I will splurge on something for quality that you can feel or see. I am perfectly happy with replicas when the quality is the same or marginally less as the original. But, I'm kind of poor and cheap :)

"Buy the best and you only cry once."

I'm with the first poster. A leg breaking off after 6 months is a manufacturing defect. Take it back...if they won't take it back, do a chargeback on your cc!

I recently killed a faux eames lounger in the first 10 minutes of owning it, so I'm definitely back in the 'real deal' camp.

My Fauxguchi coffee table I don't worry about it, but if I sit on it, I don't buy it from The Knockoff Shop or even Ikea or CB2. Coffee tables — less worries.

Depends what the gap is between the knockoff pricing and the real thing. In the case of the Eames chair and the Arco lamp, the full-priced original is over ten times that of a replica. To me, that's savings worth sucking it up (and other posters are totally right regarding returns/chargebacks -- at least try!). Replicas bought from vendors I've researched (and who have dependable reviews) are my personal choice.

While I adore the idea of having enough to splurge on the real thing, and while I believe that *some* designs are timeless... if you didn't spend a fortune on your Original ____ you won't kick yourself quite as hard when the urge to redecorate strikes you in five years once the ____ no longer fits your current taste quite as well.

Funny how some folks who would look askance at knock-off Rolex watches, MontBlanc pens and Prada bags, would never dream of purchasing a Chinese car that looks alot like a BMW - and might even get downright indignant and post scathing reviews on Yelp if they were in a restaurant that served them a Crab Salad made with Surimi, found out that their "Scallops" were made from Stingray and that their "Veal Scallopini" was made from a pounded Round Steak...
...would have no problem whatsoever with purchasing cheap knock-off furniture.

You get what you pay for.

I'm for buying quality used rather than buying cheap new. They don't make anything as good as they used to.

Buying knock off is stealing from the original designer and manufacturer. Why would you want second quality anyway? If you can't afford a new Eames chair buy a used one that will cost less than a new knock off and still be of number one quality.

I can immediately tell without having looked at the credits or any other comments here that the one on the right is the Eames. I know this because I, too, just purchased 2 knock-offs (mid-backs in silver) as part of our office renovation. We received them about 2 weeks ago and though we haven't had any issues yet, it is obvious that they are definitely far below Eames quality. Still though, they sure look a heck of a lot better than what we had before. Besides, any new desk chairs we could have purchased in our price range would have set us back $200-$300 per chair anyway, so why not have them look like our dream chair.

"A leg breaking off after 6 months is a manufacturing defect."

Wrong.

A broken leg when it comes out of the box or after sitting on it the first time is a manufacturing defect...
...a leg breaking off when you sit on it hard after 6 months of use may be evidence of poor design and shoddy materials - but it's certainly not a manufacturing defect and unless there's a written warranty in place from the manufacturer or the seller - you've got nothing.

This post has me thinking about furniture safety in general. I remember when I first moved out in my twenties, I bought these collapsible (folding) bar-height chairs from IKEA for about $30 each. A few years later I was sitting on one and "BOOM!" the collapsible mechanism collapsed the chair--with me on it--to the ground. These chairs were a long way above the ground too, ouch! Later I noticed that all it took was two little wood screws on the underside of the chair seat wiggling loose to cause the violent failure. The week before I had had a pregnant woman visit me and sit on that chair. I sure was glad it was me and not her that took the fall. The experience raised my awareness to the danger of cheap furniture!

@Jeffrey Jason: There's a saying where I come from that poor people can't afford to buy cheap stuff. My parents have the same sofa that they saved up for over a longer time in the 70's and they've changed the fabrics and cushions twice. No spring thingies have gone out of place even though there were two kids behaving like kids a couple of decades ago. I could not agree more and have lived by this rule in my own home too. Alvar Aalto coffee table, A.A. kitchen table, Arne Jacobsen lamp, Dux beds. I've purchased these things during my studies and have made sound decisions that I'm never going to regret. All of these are almost like new still.

I have learned this lesson the easy way and on a grand scale with million dollar budgets.
It always pays to do the job right and do it right the first time. PERIOD. If you ever find yourself considering the cheapest option you had better be asking harder questions than, "which is the cheapest option...."
So easy to do, yet so hard. Deep down we all know the right option.

I've had the pleasure of sitting in one of these Eames chairs and experienced a hard time getting out of it again. I did the trial in an interior-decoration store and was embarrassed but just couldn't stop the glue. It's very rare for me to find a good chair of this size as they usually are weird in the back and the ratios in every direction are off somehow with too short a leg room underneath the upper legs, but man, this one! <3

I completely agree with ninakk. I'd rather save up for one nice thing than replace a piece of crap with another piece of crap over and over again.

Being in my 20s and still in school, I can't really afford high-end design - but I also never /ever/ buy knockoffs. I'm willing to save for pricier items and I'm equally willing to settle for something inferior but in my price range, but I find copies repulsive, and I'd much rather have an honest IKEA than a fake Eames.

bepsf—fantastic point!

My parents have always said, "Spend two or three times as much—it'll last ten times longer!" They've been right every time.

Everyone should be able to enjoy good design. Not everyone can afford a $300 chair--not now, not in a year.

While I would like to support an exceptional designers by purchasing their products, I would also like exceptional designers to consider me. To consider a wider audience. Herman Miller can afford it.

My I bought my 60 dollar computer chair used and I've had it a few years now and I've never had any piece of it breaking off, even after disassembling it in various ways twice. And believe me it gets a lot of abuse.... It never hurts to write a (very nice, not rude) complaint letter to the company when things like that happen. They are usually very pleasant and will try and make it up in some way.

PS For what it's worth, our Eames knockoff was the only piece of furniture that survived our apartment fire.

"I feel if you have to save for something then your living out of your means."

No, if you have to buy something on credit, you may be living outside of your means.

As someone who wasn't that familiar with furniture designs until about 5 or six years ago, it was a hard blow to realize that most of the furniture that caught my eye was made in the 50's and 60's and not on par with my budget.

It's hard to fall in love with something and then upon hunting for a better price, find out that it's a knock-off. Sometimes, I didn't find out until after I purchased it from that person who likes to tell you that it is...You know who you are!

I have some knock-offs but now, I'd go for the original and if the price is way more than I think it's worth, I'm happy to walk away and look for something else if I can't find a used version. I'll probably never have an original Egg chair but the Earth will keep rotating. I like Ikea cause it's affordable and I take care of my stuff so it last and when I sell them, I get a good price because it's still like new.

Also, for anyone in the same situation as Bethany, I bought two similar knock-offs about 3 & 1/2 years ago and after 9 months, one of the hydraulic lifts stop functioning. I contacted the manufacture, Zuo Modern, and the sent me the replacement part at no charge which is still in use. Usually if it's within a year warranty, you should be able to get it fixed, knock-off or not.

@fleo: "I'd much rather have an honest IKEA than a fake Eames" - exactly!

Price does not predict quality. However, knockoffs are not designed to mimic the quality of a designer piece, just the form. A good middle ground is furniture that is well made and beautiful but reasonably priced. That was the original intent of a lot of the mid century designers - to design mass-produced and affordable pieces that were also beautiful and functional pieces. This is why I love West Elm and CB2 - they stick to these principles!

Learn what makes the real thing something of quality. You will not only have a greater appreciation for the real deal, but you will also learn where you can get comparable quality in something with less of a name.

I am not very familiar with this chair, but I personally like the one on the left more, since the metal/chrome seems darker rather than BRIGHT WHITE and the metal parts are more slender-looking. I think I like how the front of the seat rolls over more than the other, though that could be a trick of the view. Also the mechanism below the chair seems more streamlined. These are pretty individual reasons, I assume.

I am not that likely to buy knockoffs, but if the knockoff were different enough that I actually preferred its design to the original, that is one case where I would buy the knockoff without much guilt at all. I would also have zero guilt in buying a second-hand knockoff. And finally, I wouldn't really have much guilt in buying a knockoff of an old-enough design, which I think includes most of the mid-century classics. I "believe" in patents, but not forever. I'm not sure I even believe in patents that last the creator's lifetime, and certainly not for a company. I assume that the high cost of classics helps the company invest in new designers etc. etc., but if the chair costs $2000, I, and many other people, really cannot afford to buy it. It would be irresponsible to. So because I was never actually a potential client for the genuine article, it "doesn't matter" if I buy a knockoff.

Also, you can buy a $50 chair at staples and it will hold up for years, so why shouldn't a relatively expensive knockoff be at least as good? But it is too bad about the chair and table. It would really be mysterious if the table broke, considering, you know, it's a table. It's simply not that hard to build a pedestal table. Even ikea can do it. And it's not like yours is made out of particle board.

@emmelemm
Aren't most americans failing to save enough for their retirement? I think not living on credit/actively increasing your current debt is a little too generous an interpretation for not living outside of your means (depending on what stage of life you are at, somewhat).

I just have this "thing" about knock-offs. Even if it's really close (like a real sterling Tiffany-inspired necklace of comparable quality), it would drive me nuts if it wasn't the real deal. (I only make exceptions when cruelty to animals is involved -like knock-off non-leather "Uggs" or something.) So we were patient and we eventually found an Aeron chair for $100 on craigslist. "Why you fools," you exclaim,"It MUST be a fake!" Nope -we got lucky (came with authentic paperwork). So I'd rather be patient saving up or waiting for that magic Groupon (that got me a REAL pair of Wayfarers for the same price as the ebay/Amazon knock-offs claiming to be authentic.) I really am a firm believer, as your chair & lamp illustrate -you get what you pay for. That's not to say that the higher ticket items don't always bite the dust, but they sure seem to last longer! Save up, surf craigslist (but BE CAREFUL), and buy yourself that lamp and task chair -you deserve it!

Hey, how come no one is guessing the true Eames! I think it's the one on the left, less complicated workings...of course I cheated.
AT 9/19/2007

I too agree with ninakk and I find that quite an arrogant comment by Jeffrey Jason, why can't people who aren't as well off enjoy the finer things in life also, there is something to be said for savings for months to afford that truly beautiful thing you have seen and finally attaining it. Some of my finest memories are from design pieces that I had to save up for when I was a student. Now that I earn significantly more, these things dont hold as much value for me because I didnt have to sacrifice to get it.

I suggest buying the real thing for sure. We bought an Eames office chair knock-off at $300, and 4 Eames dowel eiffle dinning chairs and they are all replaced we the real thing within a year. The office chair totally broke, and the dowels in the dinning chairs squeaks. So now we have all originals and they are perfect - furniture we will keep a very very long time.

My knockoff Eames lounger is slightly less well-padded than a genuine one, and it has little flaws that betray its origins: a screw that keeps loosening in the left arm, a slight crack in the plywood on the underside of the seat, a spot on the footrest where the zipper protrudes more than it should.

But I only know about these because I sit in it all the time, and frankly they don't bother me. It's a beautiful chair and it cost SIX AND A HALF THOUSAND DOLLARS less than the genuine version. I'm getting 99% of the value for 25% of the price.

(As for guessing the "true" Eames office chair... I'm ashamed to say I can't definitively tell without cheating. I think the left one is the fake, because the detailing on the right one looks more the Eames' signature style, especially in the arms. But the adjustment mechanisms look very inelegant for a piece of designer furniture.)

@AprilAries and others: Not to be that guy, but the one on the LEFT is the real Eames. The one on the right is the knockoff.

Who ever said the one of the right is the eames makes me nervous. I am far from a snob, but people have to understand, this isn't just "furniture" it is ART. You don't buy a fake Picasso and put it in your house. The money is worth saving up for because it is a collectable and you enjoy waking up and looking at it and sitting in it everyday. If I had some chinese knock off how does that make me feel good if I am into classic design? It is a shame that Ray and Charles had such great talents that people basically crap on by purchasing replicas. Simple rule: if you cannot afford it, or rather you think it is ridiculous to pay the amount, don't buy it, go buy something from ikea or similar, that has clean lines and is cheap. Don't put fraudulent art in your home..

Additional: Simple way to know it is not the one of the right, it has a HUGE tension knob underneath. Sorry they did not have tension knobs in the 60s on task chairs. lol

"... and it cost SIX AND A HALF THOUSAND DOLLARS less than the genuine version. I'm getting 99% of the value for 25% of the price."

... you've got some bad math skills. a brand new eames lounger and ottoman from highbrow is $4500 (no tax/delivery). and they tend to go on sale a few times/year for 10% off. so you can get one new for as low as $4050.

on the used market, genuine herman miller sets can be had for $3500 (a fairly standard craigslist price in SF). thusly, you should able to recoup over 75% of your cost should you decide to re-sell.

so, if you bought it new at $4050 and re-sold at $3500, your net cost of ownership would be $550.

however, your $950 fake lounger (the going price here in SF) will re-sell for about $300... so, in the end, it cost you about $100 more to own the fake.

it doesn't add up to me.

That is a very sound argument redneckmodern. Quality and authentic is a better investment in many ways.

My grandma always told me: "Buy cheap and you will buy it at least two times."

It's not just snobbery that should make you consider buying authentic pieces.
Buying replica furniture not only looks cheap, lasts for no where near as long - it has a very real impact on the environment. Each time you buy and replace a piece of replica furniture (likely to be made in unethical ways in a developing country) you are having a very real and very negative effect on the environment.
True that you can't always afford the brand new real deal - my solution: buy vintage/second hand authentic designer pieces. They look amazing, and save your pocket and the environment. Plus nothing feels as good as the real deal. I have a real Herman Miller directors chair. Most comfortable seat in the house. We bought it 1 year ago, but it was made in 1994.

@lepidoptery

Obviously, there are many factors to consider in one's personal financial planning. However, I find the statement "If you have to save up for something, it's not within your means" to be somewhat absurd.

There are very few people who receive single paychecks of, say, $15-20,000. Therefore, without either saving, as in, putting small sums of money aside from multiple paychecks over time (OR, of course, buying on credit), almost no one could afford to buy a car. Is then having a car "outside the means" of most middle-class people?

Is it still foolish to buy a Lamborghini rather than a Honda if you are not extremely wealthy? Sure. But what if you really, really would rather have a Audi than a Honda? And you take the bus for an extra year to buy the Audi. Is it foolish not to have put the difference in your retirement account? Probably. But if the Audi (or Eames lounge chair, or really expensive mattress, or whatever) significantly enriches your life today, and you haven't starved your children or put it on a 20% interest credit card that you have no hope of paying off, is it so wrong?

"If you have to save up for something, it's not within your means"

actually, if you are able to save up for it and buy it outright without using a credit card (and can afford to maintain it if it's something like a car), it's perfectly within your means... that's, like, financial planning 101.

I worked at a store that sold knock-offs from Alphaville and they were quite sturdy but so many other companies are manufacturing replicas that are just crap. We sold some of these and they would fall apart on the sales floor, before even making it into the home! When you buy a fake, you get poorly made materials that look good. Furniture is an investment, I would never plan to leave a knock-off to my grandchildren.

Come as close as you can to the real thing. There are so many ways today to acquire authentic pieces that with time, some creativity and patience you can afford that Eames chair (nothing really looks or feels like the original on that one - with the exception of replicas made by the original manufacturers).
On a budget splurge where it means the most to you and work around on everything else.
For years I wanted an Artemide Tizio lamp. Over the years I have had several halogen lamps, but they ended up being a waste of money, even though they were perfectly adequate, they were not, ultimately, what I really wanted. I finally bought one (on eBay) and I love it as much as I thought it would. If you are struggling to pay your bills then it is absurd to covet a pricey item. But if the piece fits you, fits your life, expresses something about you and makes you feel good too, then that is worth a little sacrifice.

Living in Europe has really brought home the lesson of only going for The Real Thing (which, ironically enough I am old enough to have seen on Broadway when Jeremy Irons starred in it, but I digress...).

When you see the care, the passion, the craftsmanship, and the pride which goes into making The Real Thing, you begin to understand what distinguishes it from a copy. And when you further see the economic effects of purchasing The Real Thing -- the livelihoods, the regional economic engines, how it keeps the skills alive -- you see how necessary it is.

And finally, when you see how much everything costs *here* (I'm referring to Geneva, as well as France and the rest of Europe), you understand why things cost as much as they do, and you begin to get the sneaking feeling that the North American culture values "cheap", and that it is actually a big part of what is destroying it as well...

Nothing beats moving away to get a clearer perspective...

I'm a poor college student with a knockoff Eames lounger. I wanted the look and there was no way I could have afforded the original. While I know its not the same, I still feel really happy every time I sit in it.
I'm trying to have less things in general, so I can focus on getting the ones that make me happier

"I feel if you have to save for something then your living out of your means."

Well, I guess most of us will never own our own homes, then, nor cars, nor be able to retire. That said, while I love quality design, I don't need a piece of furniture that costs my entire paycheck. Real Ikea, all the way.

I have no issue with knock-offs - if it's legal, then it's fair game.

If your name is Eames and you make a chair and put a $4000 price tag on it... fine. If it sells and you make a profit - good for you! But if someone else not named Eames sells a similar-looking chair for $200 and everybody buys that instead... tough luck for the real Eames. It's not just about being a good chair-maker it's also about being a good businessman.

My parents have had a couple of great faux-Eames lounger chairs and a faux Barcelona chair for ages. They are beautiful and have lasted for at least 30 years. An item can be a repro and still be of good quality. I think of that office chair as a very precise design in engineering, if that makes sense. It's meant to be very comfortable for long periods of work, so I can understand why you would want to make a greater investment in the real deal.

@anna europe
I don't honestly think of it that way, after all, the person who is willing to buy a knock off is not that likely to be the person who can afford the genuine article. The authenticated versions price themselves out of that market.

@emmelemm
Honestly, I'm not entirely convinced by that argument, because on a relatively small purchase like this (not a car or a house, though some sofas cost as much as cars), shouldn't you have enough free money not already allocated to paying existing bills to cover this sort of purchase? The scenario you laid out suggests living from paycheck to paycheck... but of course it takes a bit of time to build up to that point, and you might have coveted a _____ since you were a poor college student, so I guess that depends on the security of your job and your age. OTOH, sometimes you just "need" to buy something, and the pleasure of owning it is in itself a great priority. It could help to think of it as an art piece rather than something to sit on. But in that vein....

@brennyb
But ppl purchase posters of van Gogh all the time, so your analogy is broken. Unless you mean to say ppl should resign themselves to the miniatures....

There are two issues here: the issue of quality and the issue of authenticity or plagiarism. The quality of the original designs is often very good and the quality of knock-offs is often lower, but when you are talking about breakage, you aren't really talking about authenticity, you are talking about quality. These two things aren't always linked. Also, quality, authentic items aren't always sturdy -- for example, my parents own authentic Hepplewhite chairs, which have survived in our family for two hundred years, but would not be able to handle the weight of a truly obese person.

Anyway, my feeling is that the real question in this post is not whether it is morally reprehensible to buy a copy, but when, if ever, is it appropriate to buy a lower quality item. Personally, I don't think that we always have to buy the highest quality, most sturdy items for our homes, because our homes are not commercial settings. Our upholstery fabric doesn't need to meet the tens of thousands of double rubs that a hospital's waiting room chairs need to meet; our doors don't undergo the same abuse as a school's; and so on. However, there is a level of quality construction that should be required. As some people have mentioned above, the lowest price is usually a red flag for the lowest quality. On the other hand, we may not need to meet the level of the highest priced version. What we really should concentrate on is examining the actual quality of the construction. If a piece doesn't measure up, then it isn't worth buying just for the look.

Am I reading correctly that the OP paid $300! for a knockoff chair that broke after 6 months? Yowza.

I agree that I wouldn't buy knock offs, I'd prefer to buy vintage pieces or, if new was necessary, something from CB2 or similar stores. I also am in agreement that buying higher quality items one-time is better -- for budget, environment, etc. -- than buying cheap and needing to replace in a few years (or a few months in some cases!). And if you don't have the budget to buy something nice now, well that's the beauty of second hand items.

I just broke down and bought a bed that for me is very expensive, made of solid wood and with a nicely upholstered headboard and footboard, and a new mattress to go with it. I bought an Ikea bed about six months ago thinking that I could get by with something inexpensive for the time being, since I really just needed a platform bed, but the slats on it have fallen through repeatedly, I've cut myself on sharp edges, it squeaks at the slightest move, and it's basically been a nightmare. I got what I paid for. I should have just bought a better quality item to begin with, and now I've lost several hundred dollars needlessly on a cheap bed. When looking for a replacement I decided that it would be better to get something I can have forever and that is built to last. When confronted with mattress prices, too, I ended up getting a great deal on a floor model that had a slight stain but was a great quality bed, which was therefore the same price as beds of much lower quality that I could have gotten brand new. Hopefully these items will last me for many years down the line.

Also, in the past I've settled for cheap designs that I didn't really love, and then gotten sick of them and switched them out with the justification "Well, it didn't cost very much to begin with." And I've come to realize that when you do that, you really may as well buy something twice the cost now... because otherwise you will just want to replace it in the future. Only if you're getting something for free or near it should you EVER settle for bringing something into your home that you don't love, because you will end up getting rid of it and having to buy something new anyway. And in that case, it makes much more sense to buy a higher priced, better quality item that really suits you in the first place rather than rushing to fill a corner with something inferior.

"I feel if you have to save for something then your living out of your means."

Wha...? Am I not understanding what you're saying? 'Cause this sounds like the most ridiculous statement I've heard all week.

@Peter R: I have a lot of Ikea furniture, but I can't bring myself to buy barstools or anything that folds up from there for that exact reason. I do sort of hedge my bets when I buy cheaper things. "If this failed, would it cause grave bodily injury?" Duvet: probably not. Bar stool: yes.

Furniture is in no way a small purchase. Good furniture will last you longer than a car. With that in mind there is no reason not to save up for a 1000 dollar office chair. I work from home a lot, and that means my office chair is used 8+ hours a day. Why wouldn't I save for it.

You are also forgetting that good budgeting demands saving. I only allocate X amount of dollars a month to loose purchases like this. It doesn't matter that I could feasibly spend 1k a month in chairs. If I did that I would be breaking my budget. I am still saving for that item. Saving also puts purchases into perspective. It insures you don't blow money on bigger items simply because you can. I have a good amount in savings that can be applied to large purchases as needed, but I still regularly save for expensive toys because the process is good for you financially.

The poor man pays twice.

That whole thing about living out of your means?

Yeah, if you NEVER put anything on credit then one day you might actually need it..... and no one will give you any. So sometimes debt is actually a good thing.

In regards to the chair breaking, I'm not sure what the law is in the US, but here in NZ, if it breaks outside of warranty but it is within what could be considered it's 'lifetime' (ie a couch might be expected to last ten to fifteen years) you have the Consumer Guarantees Act to fall back on. One of the reasons not to buy the extended warranty!

"... and it cost SIX AND A HALF THOUSAND DOLLARS less than the genuine version. I'm getting 99% of the value for 25% of the price."

... you've got some bad math skills.

Not as bad as your geography skills, however. Where I live, in Australia, a genuine Herman Miller Eames Lounger is $8,500AU from Living Edge Design (the only local licensee, as far as I can tell). A Chinese fake, from a variety of outlets, is usually somewhere in the orbit of $2,000.

No doubt if we had a decent Craigslist, and if we lived in the same country as the Herman Miller corporation, it might be easier to get the genuine article cheaper.

As an interior designer by degree and trade, this seriously saddens me to see this type of stuff actually supported by so many readers on a big site such as this. The people that buy the fakes do not appreciate design the same way, simple as that. People think I am weird because I wouldn't buy a coffee table until I saved enough to buy an authentic Nelson bench. But I didn't just buy something for the "look" or to fill an empty space. If you are buying something just for the look, then I am assuming you are the same person you buys fake LV bags and tiffany bracelets. Go on craigslist and find deals! Authentic pieces are all over the place on craigs for great deals.

@blandwagon
For some reason, I am surprised it costs as much as $2000 for a knockoff when you are so close to china! inmod's knockoff of the chair I assume you are talking is similarly priced (although supposedly discounted, so I don't know....) Or maybe there is less demand so the relative lack of transportation costs is not offset or something?

lepidoptery, the USA has more than 300 million people. Australia has 22 million. The economies of scale in the massive American market make most things cheaper there.

Matt Blatt, which services our biggest market (the east coast), is currently selling the standard Eames lounge knockoff for $1,895. And it should be noted that Matt Blatt is one of the budget dealers.

http://www.mattblatt.com.au/ProductDetails.aspx?element=31&category=1&PKID=1791&ColourID=5

If you are buying something just for the look, then I am assuming you are the same person you buys fake LV bags and tiffany bracelets.

Your analogy would only stand, brennyb, if fake Louis Vitton bags were exact copies, in the exact same quality materials, as real Louis Vitton bags... which most of the time is not the case. People buy knockoff Nelson benches and unlicensed Eames chairs because they are awesome pieces of design, made from the same materials, and indistinguishable from the real thing.

If people bought Eames lounges with vinyl upholstery and hardware store feet, then yes, your analogy would stand.

All I know is that I am in excruciating pain and the Eames Lounger and Ottoman call to me louder each month. I saved thousands for LASIK (don't ask: trust I really needed it), I saved thousands for a medically needed, adjustable bed; frankly if the pain gets one smidgey worse, I may lose my mind and just buy DWR. I assume it to be the most pillowy-love-hold-you chair available, for even as I'd like a Ball Chair for that quiet and solitude feeling, it seems too shallow at 28" -no footstool/crushed legs? Advise anyone?

The big question answered is that as much as I "can't afford nice things" well, I can save & I can't take the pain anymore, I swear to God. I'd never forgive myself if a cheaper fake gave me not just guilt but a 'bummer, wasted all that saved money' experience. Never.

"People buy knockoff Nelson benches and unlicensed Eames chairs because they are awesome pieces of design, made from the same materials, and indistinguishable from the real thing."

I think the whole point if this article is that they are /not/ indistinguishable... either visually, materially or from a construction POV.

Some knock-offs are, of course, closer to "the real thing" -- a local SF dealer once told me of a knockoff Barcelona chair that appraised and he swore came of the same assembly line as the originals (but skipped the Knoll stamping)... but in the case of this fake Eames office chair, it broke after 6months -- that's not indistinguishable by any means from a quality POV. And it sure doesn't look like it: different feet, under-seat mechanism, etc.

Knock-off Nelson benches are usually made from Chinese "fruitwood", not American Maple. I doubt the walnut veneer or quality of leather is the same on any fake Eames lounger -- and the ones we see here in the US (which run under $1000USD) have goofy proportions.

In the case of the chair above, the legs were either made from an inferior grade of aluminum or not designed to withstand the load.

Even in a non-Herman Miller setting, the knock-off Semigood barstools by White have serious structural concerns (as voiced by the original designer of the stool who took great care to design a cantilever stool that held the weight of a person). You might save a couple of bucks up front, but when you seat breaks and you tumble 2 feet to the floor, your medical (or legal) bills will likely trump the initial cost of the original stool constructed to withstand the load.

Knock-offs might look good at 20-feet, but under closer inspection, they tend to fall apart: literally and figuratively.

Blandwagon: "People buy knockoff Nelson benches and unlicensed Eames chairs because they are awesome pieces of design, made from the same materials, and indistinguishable from the real thing."

Actually, that kind of knockoff is next to nonexistent; usually - just like with better Vuitton copies - you will get something that looks more or less the same, but neither the materials used nor the craftsmanship applied are anywhere near the original.

However, to get back on the original topic, I also feel there is a big portion of the market being ignored here - that would be good original design without a big fancy brand name. I can't help but think the OP could have gotten something much better for his $300 if he only he was willing to look for something other than "Eames lookalike". I understand love for good design, but I have a hard time believing that particular chair is its sole representative :)

@blandwagon
The economies of scale thing was what my last sentence was thinking about, on the other hand I wonder if the US also has more ppl selling knockoffs, so that any 1 dealer can't take as much advantage of it as you might think. As it is, assuming the ~$2100 inmod price is as low as it gets, you are getting it for 10% less, so that's pretty cool. I mean, I guess that is really just how much it costs to make the thing. (Does that include shipping costs? Do you pay sales tax on online purchases in australia?)

As a return to the original topic (sort of), I want to know if ppl really consider the above chair a knockoff? It is clearly very derivative/"inspired by", but it is in no way close enough in design that it can be mistaken for the original, assuming you know what it looks like. I mean, it's not "just" a matter of fiddly proportions. So is it really a knockoff, as such? This is one of the ones that I'd buy with little guilt, assuming I actually preferred the looks of the one on the right, because I wouldn't actually think one is passing itself off as the other.

Though, IMO, no $300 task chair should break at 6 months. I mean, I had a $50 task chair break within a year of purchase or something; you can bet I carted that thing back to staples and got a refund....

@blandwagon - I guess knockoffs look the same to people that don't know what they are looking at. I can spot a knock off a mile away, and owning an original eames lounger myself and sitting in numerous high quality fakes at stores such as HOLDIT I can tell you there is a big difference. But everyone keeps talking about quality or materials that has nothing to do with it to me, it has to do with the principle. It is not just furniture, it is a piece of art. I wouldn't buy fake art, period.

If you own an original, vintage or new production. You can say you own a piece of history, if you own something that was made in china, you cannot. Again, I guess if it is just furniture then maybe a fake is the choice for you, but for me it is a collectable.

Maybe designer furniture is just stupid..?

I mean come on, you waste money trying to LOOK the part (i.e. richer than you actually are) then have a cry when it doesn't work out.

Unless you have a health issue which means you need fancy-pants furniture (or can ACTUALLY afford it), why not buy furniture that will stand the test of time, or at least be fixed?

A solid wooden chair costs $50 mate. Just sayin'.

re: JustBekky

Sometimes I think that when I see a tricked out Bentley vehicle on the road but not when I see a creation by Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen or the like. The architects, designers- some great artists.

Sometimes a chair isn't just a chair. And these pieces do stand the test of time. So it would seem that except for your 'time out' wooden chair, you seem to agree with the 'non-fakes' crowd. And frankly, a solidly built chair is getting harder and harder to find as WalMarts push crap & what was once our $50 solid chair has long been lost all over America.

But I don't think that you're here to conversate, from your tone - acquiring a few pieces of art in one's lifetime does not mean that one is trying to 'look any part' at all.

Yes, some people insist that art can only be paintings and sculptures. Maybe you are of that crowd? Given the choice, I'd want to live in an isolated area in a wee home of maybe 400 square feet, with an Eames Lounger, my expensive (admittedly medical) bed - but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the majesty of some of the architecture going up around the world or the innovation (Bjarke's BIG work, let's say)... but if you can't see art where art is, I don't know what to say.

The Eames were part of an Arts and Crafts movement. I don't denigrate the Crafts & take it away from Art. Just sayin' ...mate.

Peace.

Same thing happened to me. Too it to a local welding/metalwork shop. They reinforced the bad weld and made it better than new.