Genuine Design

Laine Blumenkopf - Fourth Place

Dear Senator Schumer:

I commend your efforts to pass The Design Piracy Prohibition Act. It is a necessary bill that, when passed, will accomplish great things. As is, however, this bill does not go far enough to protect designers’ rights. While fashion designers are protected under the current bill, furniture designers are excluded. We are one design community that deserves equal protection under the law.

American ingenuity is the backbone of our nation. In this past election year, we heard various versions of this phrase from both parties. The bi-partisan support for The Design Piracy Prohibition Act shows that our representatives in government are acting on their beliefs. I would like to provide a few examples that support the design community’s belief that furniture designers deserve legal protection.

Nancy Corzine, a highly successful furniture designer, was in litigation for nearly thirteen years to stand up for her design. In 1995 her entire collection was reproduced, passed off as her design, constructed poorly, and sold cheaply. After one million dollars in legal fees, Ms. Corzine won her case. It is doubtful that she will ever receive monetary compensation for the designs stolen from her. She was financially able to do what most furniture designers are not—stand up for genuine design. Our government provides a voice for those who cannot speak; give our furniture designers a voice.

By not providing legal rights to furniture designers, Congress sits idle while theft occurs. Carlos Salgado is a designer for Scrapile, a company that collects and repurposes discarded scraps of wood from New York’s woodworking industry, and through a unique laminating process creates spectacular furniture. In an era when environmental preservation has never been more essential, Scrapile’s work embodies the belief “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Scrapile benefits the planet while meeting industry demands. Mr. Salgado had no legal rights when someone who had once had access to the Scrapile shop, stole the laminating technique, produced very similar pieces, and sold both the design concept and the furniture as his own. A designer’s work is more than his or her plans, it is his or her heart and soul. Mr. Selgado was robbed.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced unemployment rates for November had reached 6.7%. Seven thousand of the jobs lost were those of furniture manufacturers. The number of American jobs outsourced overseas is a more difficult number to pinpoint. A way to combat losing Americans jobs is to give furniture designers legal rights to their designs to ensure the designers have control over where their designs are being manufactured.

Knoll is an American furniture manufacturer and distributor that has licenses to the designs of many Mid-Century Modern furniture designers, such as Florence Knoll and Eero Saarinen. Knoll has manufacturing sites in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, Grand Rapids and Muskegon, Michigan. Designers who sell Knoll rights to reproduce their designs do so knowing they get a percentage of the royalties, their designs will not be altered, consumers will get authentic products, and they know where their designs are being manufactured. By empowering furniture designers with legal rights to their designs we are also ensuring American jobs, something needed more now than ever.

As an emerging interior designer, it is important to me to provide my clients with authentic designs, and it is essential to legally, honestly, ethically support the furniture designers of this industry. Until The Design Piracy Prohibition Act is passed, America stands as one of the few Western nations that has not taken steps to protect its designers. When America stands up for its designers, let us do so fully and completely, and protect all designers.

Sincerely,

Laine Blumenkopf