What happens when the rules change?
A recent bill passed in the UK has extended the copyright law from allowing a design to be reproduced 25 years after its creation to 70 years after the designer’s life.
This has heralded the death knell for replica furniture in the UK and this bill is very likely to come to Ireland. I knew this change was on the horizon when I set up CA Design. My intention was to offer affordable, design-focused furniture and providing inspired designs was inclusive of this purpose. I am huge advocate of the 20thcentury design classics and will be sorry to be unable to champion these iconic pieces at affordable prices and more poignantly, so many people will not be able to enjoy these pieces once the bill is in effect. I will keep you informed of when the date is nigh!
An original Eames Lounger comes with an eye-watering price tag of €8,000 compared to our beautifully made, affordable replica at €1,895. There are of course, poor reproductions, which this bill will cut, but I use only premium Italian leathers and top-grade materials. Sadly this bill doesn’t allow for any quality threshold.
Once the bill comes into effect here, we may well have to wait until 2048, so as this is genuinely a last opportunity to buy the best quality 20th century classics at affordable prices in Dublin, I would encourage people who are procrastinating to act now. Don’t picture yourself curled up on an Eames Lounger or your kids on an Eames rocking chair or sitting around a Saarinen marble dining table...have a browse online or come and chat to us!
The future for CA Design is still very much about offering design-focused furniture and since its inception I have established strong relations with some fantastic European furniture brands as well as advocating newer design firms that we’ve discovered from Maison Et Objet in Paris and Formex in Stockholm. Early next year we will visit these shows again and also Salone de Mobile in Milan. Whilst 2016 saw us diversify into luxury accessories from sheepskin rugs to lighting and vases, and so much more! Despite preparing to loose a part of the business that will always be in my heart, I’m really excited about where CA Design is going.
Click here for the above article about the change to the copyright law coming into effect in Ireland in the Sunday Times on November 27th. I am pictured by our Aarnio style Ball chair.