When it comes to designing products, it's getting harder and harder to come up with original ideas that not only look beautiful and (hopefully) function well, but ones that will grab enough attention in an overcrowded market and actually sell. I get it, it's a tough biz these days.
But what happens when designers "borrow" from others and create products that are direct copies or slightly altered versions of the original? One such product that I recently stumbled across is this Sonora Canyon Sling Chair from Ralph Lauren (left), which bears a direct resemblance to the Borge Mogensen "Spanish" chair (right).
Call me crazy but this is a total rip off of the original Spanish chair. Sure it's in a darker finish, it's missing the flat arms and they've added an extra piece on the base, but it's essentially THE SAME CHAIR.
What is even more astounding, however, is that the Ralph Lauren chair, priced at $5,625 is actually more expensive than the Borge Mogensen chair, priced at $4,950. I understand that a lot of "knock off" versions of many different products exist out there, but when they are priced higher than the original, that's just insane. So I'm not sure if I should technically call the Sonora Canyon Sling Chair a knock off, a replica or an homage to the original. I'm just shocked that nobody has called them out on this yet.