These chairs were originally meant for the working class. The working class cannot afford a 5000 euro chair while knock offs cost around 1000. This product was never meant to be exclusive or special. Its meant to serve the average citizin. Monopolizing the design and enforcing massive profit margins is criminal, and completely against the original vision of Ray and Charles Eames.

That original Eames office chair goes for $2000-$3000, that is not at all what charles and ray eames intended with their design as a system concept for mass production of designed objects. Really the main people cashing in on this are the good people at Herman Miller and Vitra, meanwhile the knockoffs are bringing these designs to a mass audience as was intended.

8 years later and this video just saved me $150. Thanks helpful random video!

If I could get a herman miller chair for a price reflective of the materials in the chair and not the prestige surrounding it (something more like $1000) I would do it. But it's hard to justify used 2008 Corolla money on a single chair. At $5000 for a chair made of plywood you don't get to be uppity when an $800 exact replica sells more units.

Eames was for keeping costs affordable using mass production in their design. But it took HM to see the value, hence why chairs are near to $8,000. Not what Eames had intended.

Brilliant video .......I love these Eames lounge chairs ..... I bought one to sit in whilst listening to my 80’s Linn Sondek LP12 turntable and sound system and vinyl records .......!, I wouldn’t buy a knock off .......the music would not sound the same !!!!😎😎

I love the design, but same with the Bauhaus design, it was made to give low price products with great functionality to people. On the on hand, these products were and are at the high end of price scale, on the other hand, they last so long by material and for the eye, that the price per decade of usage might be lower than other products.

Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby

As much as I would love to have an Eames desk chair, I cannot afford one. I live in Western Europe and an official EA 117 costs thousands of euros. Although I admire the design and the craftsmanship, I don't understand why such chair still has to cost so much money. Is it the license Vitra has to pay for as an official manufacturer? Why do you think all those knockoffs exist? Exactly, because of the hefty price tag of the original! I'll keep saving for a a genuine Eames. But we shouldn't condemn people appreciating the design while not having the means or inclination to pay THOUSANDS of euros/dollars for a desk chair. They opt for knockoff (a better one than the example in the video).

He picked a poor replica, the best ones are indistinguishable and manufactured in the same way.

As an early 60th b'day present to myself and a celebration of my early retirement I bought a Eames Management Chair, Lounge Chair/ottoman and a 2x2 Storage Unit. A bit expensive, but I deserve it :-)

Bravo! I loved watching this. Thank you.

Great video! I Love eames aluminum group chair. I have many.

The major question is: When the material from the chair you are sitting on this video get old or suffer any damage. How can we replace it??? I need to replace and have no clue about to do it There is a office that we can ask for this kind of service? I want to use a mesh now.

7:47 I've been using this exact same chair for almost 10 years. It needs new upholstered but the official distributor says they cannot get the part and I have to buy a complete new one. I cannot describe how sad I am

Very important message, very well articulated.

That Eames Office chair is great! I got one just like from Barcelona Designs and it sure doesn't feel like a knockoff.

It's hilarious how your Jane Austen example illustrates *exactly* why there's nothing inherently wrong with furniture reproductions.There are reproductions of Austen's works from all kinds of publishers, anyone is free to share or even adapt them - because sometime after her death her works entered the public domain. Not all reproductions are worthy of her works, not all adaptations are necessary (was that zombie mashup really needed?) - but her works have influenced society so much that this is an acceptable trade-off for sharing it. I'm all for protecting intellectual property, as long as the author is still alive (and sometime after that). But just as Jane Austen has been dead for ages, so have Ray & Charles Eames. Of course, it was right to ban clones of Eames furniture while they were still alive, in order to protect their income and keep them motivated to continue innovating. But Charles has been dead for 40(!) years, and Ray for 30 years. I believe copyright has to cease after such a long period of time. In fact, still protecting the original manufacturers is anti-competitive in my opinion, because other manufacturers couldn't even work out licensing deals if they wanted to. Just imagine if Jane Austen's novels could only be bought from one publisher, and they'd ask for ten times the price of other novels. They'd have a monopoly on this important piece of human history, so who'd stop them? The “knock-offs” you show in the video are of poor quality, and lack context. Again, I'm absolutely against IP theft, so copies of contemporary designs with still-intact copyrights are unacceptable to me. The worst offenders in my opinion are knock-offs that somewhat resemble the original design, but butcher it completely (like the office chair shown in the video). But if the copyright has (or should have) expired, and the execution is faithful to the original design, then it's perfectly fine in my book. In my apartment, I have an RAR from Vitra, a reproduction DSW and a reproduction coffee table. The Vitra chair obviously has the best quality, but the reproduction is perfectly fine, too, and quite faithful. It's like the difference between a high-quality manufacturer and a medium-quality manufacturer. In fact, if I had the choice I'd prefer Modernica's chairs even over Vitras because they use real walnut wood.

Excellent video, but I'm sorry if I'm inconvenient, but I work in the technical assistance branch office chairs, and in my city does not have technical assistance from their seats, as the tapestry of their chairs, took a chair her: the Eames aluninum and had problems when changing the coating at the right time to put the pieces together, I would like to get more information on how to facilitate the work. And I would like information on how to proceed to become a partner as authorized technical assistance of you, because I have had a lot of demand for these types of consertos.Obrigado and I'm waiting for news.

I have a H.R. boardroom model, wirh the thicker padding. Always in the same spot in my flat in San Francisco. Now it has two large cracks in the flat metal struts holding up the seat. And the cracks are separating. This thing cost me a small fortune, and now it has become dangerous. I feel ripped off.

As long as your chairs cost +3800 EUR I will go with a replica. I am not paying to make this talking head even more wealthy.

He is not comparing the same design. Not fair.

My Eames group chair sags at the seat

The knockoffs part could've used a more obvious example, there's a huge replica where you can find great repros of these chairs. That's a very good repro. Reminds me of the ones sold by Manhattan Home Design.

Can you help common people by making these products more affordable?

That "fake" EA119 chair that you compared with. What would the value of that fake be? I recently acquired one, stoked that I got a VITRA chair. Now I've realized it's a fake, but actually I still really like the chair!!! :)

if you married an Eames (in Canada), you'd be Eames Eames!

Excellent video.

absolutely fascinating

Bad example of a knock off though.

details are not details: how did you manage to be OUT OF FOCUS all over the video? Apart from this, I enjoyed the story you tell.

pena nao ser legendado.

What bullshit! Start out with handcrafted custom wood and metal work and charge for the intensive craft skilled labor. Now just make in your factory mass produced shit for a fraction of the cost and charge 6000 dollars for a chair that can be bought on amazon for 600 dollars with the same level of quality in materials and workmanship.. Mass production lowers cost and puts the Herman Miller company in the shitter. Greed and profit. They want you to believe their chair is superior to knockoffs from China. They pick a cheap 200 dollars chair for comparison. Pick a 600 dollar chair and they are indistinguishable from real. This company is scared because copies are so good today. China makes fake rolexes using exact copies of rolexes own movement making for accurate timepieces.

Was it the intention of Charles and Ray Eames to design elitist furniture, only the upper classes can afford?

u trying to explain urself too much

1.48. Fakes in galleries & museums .