Christian Tedeschi work at the Telegraph Art Collective presented at the Oakland University Gallery showed an Eames plastic chair knockoff placed in front of a television playing all static, complete with a set of headphones resting in the middle of the chair.

The chair has been wrapped hundreds and hundreds of times in speaker wire, so that at first you don't realize it is seperated from the chair. The wire stretches off the chair and terminates at the headphones – which play the repetitive sounds of static displayed on the TV screen.  Check out more of his work here.

From Aaron R. Thomas Design  comes another Eames design cast in a different material.  This time its acrylic.  Check out more of his work HERE.

Image credits + Copyright: Aaron R. Thomas Design

 Herman Miller-sponsored charity auction to raise money for the Peace House Foundation. Each of the eleven participating designers and design firms were given an Eames’ classic “potato chip chair” to modify.

PHF spokesperson Bari Trontz told AssociatedContent.com that "the $24,000 raised at this event will support the Peace House Foundation in their efforts to educate Tanzania's most vulnerable children. The success of the Herman Miller event," she added, "is a testament to the enormous compassion and generosity on behalf of the design community in New York."

One of the designers for Pentagram created a Pincushion chair that was inspired by a typeface she designed called Pincushion. “We wanted to think of the object as something soft that could be punctured, in this case, with large hatpins, giving it the feeling of a pincushion” she said. “In our expression, the chair becomes a purely visual, rather than a utilitarian object.”

Other participants included Ayse Birsel, David Rockwell,Maharam and Todd Oldham.  Celebrated designer Oldham's work received the highest bid-$3,000-of all the completed chair designs,an image is shown below.

I haven't been able to track down images of the other designs but will try and do so shortly.

Image Credits + Copyright: Herman Miller 

The Xlounge by American artist/designer Mark Wentzel.

The conceptual weight of a design and the consumption of American culture are the focus of "XLounge" by Mark Wentzel. Wentzel explores the masterful design of the Eames Lounge Chair and it's significance today.  His interest in the design revolves around the gap between the public's endearment for old products and it's commitment to increasingly transitory "cutting edge" products.  Wentzel believes this gap to be fertile ground for creative expression.  XLounge takes on the responsibilities of it's time of creation, as Wentzel states all works should, by relying on the ingeniousness of the sleek Eames Lounge Chair design while displaying the disproportionate consumption of Americans.

Xlounge was shown at Project 4 Gallery's (Washington DC) Useless exhibition.

The Washington Post interviewed Mark and asked him this question about his work.

Why is your chair obese?
"The piece is obviously about consumption. It gives the opportunity to a particular viewer to grab their stomach and say, "Wow. That's me." I felt that this Eames chair was a crucial part of American iconography -- I think it really resonates with a wide range of people. And the standard structure of the Eames lounger was conducive to expanding its upholstery. I thought of using a La-Z-Boy. But you can't easily make a La-Z-Boy any fatter than it is. You can just make it bigger."

 This ads produced between 1952 and 1963 and were run in magazines such as House beautiful, Sunset, Brides magazine, Better homes and gardens. One is titled " Americas Most famous modern chair" can now be yours for only $25.00 (DCM DCW LCM LCW)

And one that I found most interesting was published in 1963 entitled "Beware of Imitations" and shows just how long Herman Miller has been dealing with the issue of reproductions.

Image credits and original link: Herman Miller .

Following up with the last post about the "Get Real" campaign, it looks as if Herman Miller was not ready to stop at just 2d advertising and traditional media and wants to squash reproductions at their virtual begginings.

 

Herman Miller announced that it would be entering Second Life with help from Rivers Run Red.

 

Bringing authentic, authorized designs to Second Life, It will be offering a collection of 15 pieces for L$300-L$850, or approximately U.S. $1.40 to $3.50, but users that have bought knockoffs in the past will get the new pieces for free. … Those taking advantage of this limited-time, honor-based offer need only delete their old inventory and then “Get Real.”

The entire collection will be available exclusively at “Herman Miller Real Goods,” a virtual retail store within Avalon Island in Second Life.  Easy access to the Herman Miller Real Goods store can be had through www.hermanmiller.com/virtualworld. Existing Second Life residents can link directly to the in-world store, 

Visitors to Herman Miller Real Goods will be able to browse or buy the in-world designs, gather detailed info to product pages on Herman Miller's web site, or link to a real world listing of retailers and commercial dealers where they can purchase the actual pieces.

Apparently the people who have been creating these knockoffs in second life have been hearing from the companies lawyers:

"[W]e've contacted those parties and informed them of our trade dress protections, copyrights and trademarks they are infringing, asking politely but firmly that they cease and desist," the firm's pokesman, appropriately named MarkSchurman HermanMiller, tells me. "Some have complied, others have countered with proposed partnerships, and some have yet to respond."

Here are a few pictures from their virtual store and a link to their press release.