In design everyone’s always looking for new and original ideas and it got me thinking about what constitutes an ‘Original Idea’. I think a ‘new’ idea in design is how something from the past can be reinterpreted to suit today’s point of view. Yes, nothing is new, but on the flipside, new ideas are always coming out in the marketplace and it’s “Is anybody else doing it right now?” or “Has anyone else seen and old idea and reinterpreted it in a new way”? In being reinterpreted, are you taking that which served one purpose before and is now reinterpreting it with a new use?
I think that one of my strengths have been being able to see something from the past and using it in a new way. Like when I first did picture ledges eighteen years ago, or the first time I leaned a huge mirror for fashion designer Willi Smith twenty eight years ago and presently, with an easel, which was always used to rest art on, but which we now use as a TV stand.
My Easel-as-a-TV-stand idea recently got copied by a major retailer and they are now selling these at a really affordable price across the country. On the one hand it is a flattering thing when your idea gets ripped off, but on the flipside one has to wonder why these manufacturers don’t go to the source of the creative idea and have them create for them, instead of just copying them. I think in Europe it is much more prevalent that manufacturers see someone with a good idea and for the manufacturer to ask the designer to come up with other good ideas in partnership. In this country they just knock you off, which to me is very frustrating.
That does not stop me from trying to be innovative in my work and keeping the hope alive that manufacturers will see the possibilities of working with a creative firm to not just come up with one creative idea, but many.
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#1 by Daniel Hale on January 19, 2010 - 12:53 pm
I think it was attributed to Picasso but some one said ” A great artist steals and a mediocre artist borrows” I have always thought that was an interesting take. I think that there is and should be a thread of experience that ties us together. I believe that there is certainly original thought, but it is the ability to take in all that you see and experience and then form the sum of that into something new that defines innovation. How well you make things your own will define your success in this business.
Daniel
#2 by DIANE DORRANS SAEKS on January 19, 2010 - 3:05 pm
Vicente-
Welcome back! I hope you are going to report on your holiday travels…sounded wonderful.
Copies: It is very distressing for a designer to discover that he/she has been ripped off. Horrible feeling (I have been plagiarized and it’s most unpleasant, so I know that horrible sensation).
My suggestion: you can’t really stop the copyists. They are out there looking for ideas. They don’t respect designers.They won’t hire designers. They simply rip off.
The key is that you stay six months ahead of them, always–and publish your ideas quickly so that everyone knows it is yours. The key, however, is always to be creating, always generating new concepts, always coming up with fresh and exciting and vibrant ideas–which you do!
Bravo to you for your beautiful work. You are so admired and your work has such value in the world.
cheers, DIANE
http://www.thestylesaloniste.com
#3 by Marc on January 19, 2010 - 6:17 pm
I saw the TV easel you speak of at the store, and immediately thought of you. That company knocks off a lot of things (Thomas Pheasant’s dining chairs come to mind), and when you see them in person they’re kind of…what?…I guess “off” is the word. A little too big, a little off scale, not quite right.
What a lost opportunity. A national retail company could have partnered with you to manufacture some special, authorized pieces at affordable prices. Very short sighted of them.
#4 by Whitney on January 19, 2010 - 6:42 pm
I thought of that as soon as I saw them in the stores! I have all your books and I know you have been doing the easel as a tv for a very long time. It’s not fair and it’s not right and I’m sorry that a company like that wouldn’t give credit where it was deserved.
#5 by Gary Nelling on January 19, 2010 - 7:41 pm
The fourth and most recent knock off of your ideas by other designers is the dining-height coffee table in living room seating areas. As soon as someone copies the upholstered ottoman with serving tray as coffee table concept then you can say: “Be the first in your neighborhood to copy all five!” Many people know the difference between originals and copies, though. Remember all those Merseybeat bands that copied the Beatles?
Gary
#6 by Amanda Burdge on January 19, 2010 - 10:27 pm
I know, Ive seen it! Im so sick of cookie cutter, mass produced, make it cheap, cheap, cheap mentality. Lets get back to originality, and quality!
#7 by Parker Bennett on January 20, 2010 - 11:38 am
Gary N.: easy killer – a 29″ H coffee table is NOT an original idea, so stop sucking up.
That said, clever (re)uses of decorative furnishings and objects used in design gets me really excited that there IS something new under the sun! Because we all know how 1) difficult it is to think of one and 2) seeing one makes us instantly think “why couldn’t I think of that!”
#8 by Bart on January 20, 2010 - 11:53 pm
I remember seeing a photo of Willi Smith’s place with its gigantic leaning mirror when it was new & just published, and being struck by the wonderful effect it created, but I can hardly believe that that room was created twenty-eight years ago. On the other hand, a lot of other designers’ rooms of that era feel like period pieces now, and looking at some of them, you can’t believe that it’s ONLY been 28 years.
The easel, though, as soon as I opened whatever magazine it was that first showed that room, I said to a friend of mine “This is great, but they’ll be selling them at ——– in six months & act like this was all their idea.” She disagreed, so we bet dinner on it. As soon as I saw the knockoff featured on a blog a while back, I called her up & said “You owe me dinner!” but then she called a technical, saying it didn’t count because I had predicted the wrong retailer. But it’s the same thing. So last night, when I saw just the title of this post on somebody else’s blogroll, I knew immediately what you were referring to.
But here’s the irony: the easel, in itself–whether it’s your design or their knockoff–is nothing. It was your idea that counts & like Fred Astaire says, They can’t take that away from you. People who know design will recognize that it was your idea without being told, & the people who don’t know much–or care–about modern design probably wouldn’t recognize your name anyway.
Besides, in your room, that easel was just one handsome element of a well-designed ensemble. In the ordinary condo apartment where I recently saw the actual retail product squeezed in between a generic black leather sofa & an unused breakfast bar, it looked totally unremarkable. The easel didn’t raise the aesthetic level of the rest of the room; the rest of the furnishings dragged the easel down to their own level.
Yours is a great blog. One can have wonderful style & years of experience and still be a bad writer, but you’ve got the writing to match, and, especially, when you throw in your level of lay-it-all-on-the-table condour as well, it makes this blog completely unique.
#9 by Gary Nelling on January 21, 2010 - 9:28 pm
Parker – I saw end tables used as coffee tables, but not dining-height ones until I saw them in Vicente’s work, and then elsewhere recently. But you seem better informed on this. Certainly clever adaptations of existing elements are part of his original ideas such as the picture ledge, leaning mirror and TV easel, which we now have seen copied. I suspect the same may happen with the ottoman-and-tray coffee table too. I enjoy the blog, have learned things from everyone and hope that my comments were interesting as well. My posts, like those of others, have included sincere comments, questions, and compliments, not just amens, brother. So now you are better informed about that. Gary
#10 by Kelly@TearingUpHouses on January 31, 2010 - 2:05 am
What’s that old philosophy?
Concepts without percepts are empty, percepts without concepts are blind.
I couldn’t agree with you more, by the way.
Kelly
#11 by Newell on February 1, 2010 - 7:14 pm
Hey Vicente, Yes…you were definitely the first with the brilliant idea to use an artist’s easel for a TV stand. I have to admit that I took inspiration and rigged one for mystelf. BUT, I don’t see one (including mine) without remembering where the idea originated. Restoration Hardware should have—should—consult with you. Now, THAT would be briliant.
#12 by Vicente on February 2, 2010 - 8:03 pm
Thank you for the kind comment (and words of support!). Perhaps Restoration Hardware will do the right thing? One can only hope…
#13 by Vicente on February 2, 2010 - 8:06 pm
Gary – your comments are always appreciated. As are those of everyone else – I so enjoy that this has become a platform for us all to share our thoughts.
#14 by AbbeyK on February 7, 2010 - 11:32 pm
Not only is it creative idea, but also a major coup toi convincing the client it’s a great idea.
PS I have noticed that Grange is selling them too (avail in many many fifnishes) as is ELysee collection (not quite as nice as Grange)
When I saw yours in the mag, I thought– that’s the solution I have been seeking for my own home. TV stands seem to be such a huge challenge. I like that you came up w/a creative solution. RH should give you credit if indeed they saw it from you first.