Reproduction Furniture - Avoiding Bad Copies - Scott Howard Office Furniture Ltd



















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Avoiding bad reproductions and copies

Every day, our staff are asked for their views on poor quality reproductions that frequent the market, as customers are concerned about purchasing poor reproductions.

So we are happy to produce a rogues gallery of chairs that we DO NOT sell, but we have come across over the years and we try to explain why they fail to meet ourexpectations.

As a guideline, customers should be concerned if they come across lounge chairs for less than £500 and aluminium group or softpad chairs for less than £200, as in our experience chairs at these prices have been found to be lacking.




Click on any of the thumbnail images below to see the full size image.



		The base on this lounge chair is totally the wrong shape and was never used on any Herman Miller or Vitra chair. It also has a central column that is lower than the five star base, again never seen on an original. The chair angle is wrong and the tautness of the leather pads goes against Charles Eames' original intention of the pads looking like an old worn baseball glove or English club chair.



		During 2011, we came across this chair for sale in the UK market, purporting to be an Eames Lounge chair. We think it goes without saying that apart from the visual, there is almost nothing correct about the detailing of this particular chair and we would go as far as to say that it is possibly the worst version we have seen in nearly 40 years of being involved in selling products designed by Charles & Ray Eames.



		On this chair the base is the wrong size, the tilt mechanism is a bar rather than a dish, the height adjustment lever is on the wrong side and there is no tension or tilt lock fitted.



		There is almost nothing right about this chair. The wheels are totally the wrong type, the base profile is the wrong shape, the height adjustment lever is the wrong type and has no paddle end, the tilt mechanism has no adjustment and no locking facility, the chair back is too high and too square. This is possibly the poorest example we have come across to date.



		This is the same chair as the one shown above, but from the front, so that customers can see how poor a reproduction this example is.



		This example holds a special place in our house of horrors. The castors are plastic, not metal. The five star base is completely the wrong shape and profile. The chair has no tilt mechanism and no locking bar. The arms are completely the wrong shape, being L-shaped, not square and fixed to the frame in two positions instead of three and the seat pad is far squarer than the original.



		At first glance, this would seem to be a good copy. However the wheels are plastic, the five star base is steel, not aluminium, the height adjustment lever is the wrong shape and does not have a paddle end, the tilt mechanism is wrongly positioned on the chair and has no tension adjustment or locking facility, all of which are necessary for the comfort of the user.



		In this example, the first thing that stands out is the plastic blue castors. Again, the base is steel, not aluminium and the height adjustment lever is the wrong shape. Also, the tilt mechanism is again wrongly positioned underneath the chair. Overall, visually this chair could be seen as a reasonable copy, but it is in the detail that it falls far short of requirements.



		Again on first glance, this would be seen as a reasonable copy, but again it is in the detail that it falls short. The castors are plastic, the base is steel and a thinner version than the original. The height lever is totally wrong, the tilt mechanism has no tension control or forward locking facility. The leather pads are a poor imitation of the original and the arm detail is left lacking.

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