Whilst searching for your favourite designer piece of furniture you will have noticed the huge price variation between suppliers. It may be tempting to pay in the region of £50 instead of £500 for a Bertoia chair, but you would almost certainly be buying an unauthorised copy. Does this matter? Well it depends on your point of view. If you want to enjoy its every detail and admire it every day you may well feel let down in buying a copy. And if you want to keep the chair in your family for many years and pass it on to future generations, a copy is unlikely to be for you. It's unlikely to last the distance! An authorised version is made by trained, dedicated craftsmen and will last a lifetime. A cheap copy is an unauthorised version, made with inferior materials and without the designer's permission. There is also an argument which says that companies who make copies and swamp the market drive designers out of business, so there will be fewer new design classics of the future. And the world will become a boring place. The rule is simple: if you want a design classic, buy authentic and you won't be disappointed.

How to spot a real Bertoia chair
There is a Knoll stamp on the back of the frame and Knoll is printed on the fabric under the seat pad, which is visible by looking under the chair. Another key point when comparing the real thing vs a copy is that each individual vertical wire strut sits on top of the wire frame, not the other way round.

Find Me the Original. For more information on how to spot a copy, with detailed video footage of how an Authorised Original should look, take a look at our sister company: http://www.findmetheoriginal.com

Whilst searching for your favourite designer piece of furniture you will have noticed the huge price variation between suppliers. It may be tempting to pay in the region of £400 instead of £4000 for a Lounge chair, but you would almost certainly be buying an unauthorised copy. Does this matter? Well it depends on your point of view. If you want to enjoy its every detail and admire it every day you may well feel let down in buying a copy. And if you want to keep the chair in your family for many years and pass it on to future generations, a copy is unlikely to be for you. It's unlikely to last the distance! An authorised version is made by trained, dedicated craftsmen and will last a lifetime. A cheap copy is an unauthorised version, made with inferior materials and without the designer's permission. There is also an argument which says that companies who make copies and swamp the market drive designers out of business, so there will be fewer new design classics of the future. And the world will become a boring place. The rule is simple: if you want a design classic, buy authentic and you won't be disappointed.

So how do you check that what you are buying is an authorised original Eames Lounge Chair? Only Vitra have the rights to manufacture Eames furniture in Europe. So the genuine article has a Vitra stamp and Charles Eames signature on the base. The chair should have five legs, some copies only have four. The ottoman has four legs. There are three plywood options for the seat shell: Santos Palisander veneer; cherry veneer; or black laquered (cherry stained black). The leather upholstery is totally removable using a discreet zip-system.  The chair and ottoman has a die-cast aluminium swivel base, which is available chromed or black with top edges polished, as shown in this image. Finally, these chairs are made in Germany; most copies are made in Italy or China. ALL EAMES CHAIRS MADE IN ITALY ARE COPIES!

Whilst searching for your favourite designer piece of furniture you will have noticed the huge price variation between suppliers. Itc may be tempting to pay in the region of £200 instead of £2000 for a Tulip table, but you would almost certainly be buying an unauthorised copy. Does this matter? Well it depends on your point of view. If you want to enjoy its every detail and admire it every day you may well feel let down in buying a copy. And if you want to keep the table in your family for many years and pass it on to future generations, a copy is unlikely to be for you. It's unlikely to last the distance! An authorised version is made by trained, dedicated craftsmen and will last a lifetime. A cheap copy is an unauthorised version, made with inferior materials and without the designer's permission. We believe that companies who make copies and swamp the market drive designers out of business, so there will be fewer new design classics of the future. And the world will become a boring place. The rule is simple: if you want a design classic, buy authentic and you won't be disappointed...

How to spot the real thing - Tulip Table.
The table has a chrome plaque underneath the table, inscribed with Knoll Studio, Eero Saarinen signature and the year 1956. The base is farly heavy, made with moulded cast aluminium protected with rilsan. The top is available in a choice of 6 different marbles, 4 different wood veneers, and white laminate. The marble top is 2cm thick; white laminate is 3cm thick. These tables are available round or oval in a large range of sizes. If this entire range is not available to order, or the plaque isn't there, it is a copy. Many of the fake marble tables use Carrera marble, which is typically used for butcher's blocks in Italy. It is around 30% cheaper as a raw material and has a fuzzy grey vein design that is a poor comparison to the Arabescato from Knoll.  Finally, all Knoll marble Tulip tables have a special polyester coating which makes the table a practical choice in a busy home. Each table has four separate coats of the special polyester layer, which prevents staining, thus ensuring it will cope even in the most hectic home with young children and pets!

Find Me the Original. For more information on how to spot a copy, with detailed video footage of how an Authorised Original should look, take a look at our sister company: http://www.findmetheoriginal.com