You say homage, I say uninspired

One thing I keep noticing as I flip through design mags is that there is a crazy proliferation of objects, mostly furnishings, that are just one bend or curve away from their classic predecessor. Is this an homage? Is this laziness? Has everything been done?




There are some well made pieces such as the Casala Carver chair


















They look like an homage to the 1963 40/4 chair designed by David Rowland.








But I just don't know. Have they really improved on the design? Or do the designers just lack imagination?



CB2 and Ikea used to have a direct rip of the Arne Jacobsen chair.




and maybe they got a cease and desist because now I can't find the pics but no matter, if you really want one, they aren't hard to find. Here's one for $65.99 (not going to link to the site).



Here is a great short film of the making of the original Jacobsen (for Fritz Hansen) chair:





But the big offenders are the super cheap knock-offs. Here is the original...



and here are the poor cousins





(the one on the left is from CB2. the one on the right is from its design sucking parent crate and barrel







Feature: Cruisin' the mags