Genuine Design

Corcoran Museum Exhibits and Sells Fake Rietveld Chairs

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington recently had an exhibit called "Modernism – Designing a New World 1914—1939". Believe it or not, most of the Rietveld chairs in the exhibit were knock-offs!

Cassina S.p.A. holds a registered trademark on use of the Rietveld name in the United States, and the worldwide exclusive rights to manufacture his furniture designs. Any "Rietveld" chair not made by Cassina is a fake.

In conjunction with the exhibit they are also selling the knock-offs in the gallery store. The Corcoran operates a design school and ought to know better. What a terrible example to set for their students!

UPDATE - OCTOBER 17, 2007

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington has now removed the fake Rietveld chairs from their website and store in response to pressure from Cassina, and Genuine Design. These counterfeit products were in direct violation of Cassina's trademark.

Unfortunately the damage to their reputation is done. The public, who has a 100% expectation of authenticity when viewing and purchasing from a museum, have been deceived.

I am demanding the Corcoran notify each and every customer who bought these bootleg items and offer them a refund. I also feel an apology to the A&D community, Cassina, the Rietveld Foundation, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the design students at Corcoran is in order.

Mr. Greenhalgh, the director, should be held accountable for this horrendous lack of judgment; I question whether he is capable of fulfilling his stated mission of upgrading the image of the Corcoran. In fact, he has sullied the reputation of a good institution whose trustees surely want the Corcoran to be considered among the best.

Michael Manes
President
M2L, Inc.

The Corcoran Museum had the audacity to sell knock-offs to the public

M2L distributes only genuine design® and Cassina’s Rietveld® pieces are the only versions licensed by the designer’s estate. They carry Gerrit T. Rietveld’s personal indicia and official serial number. Gerrit T. Rietveld is a registered trademark of Cassina S.p.A.

Go the Genuine Way

M2L was established on a philosophy
of genuine design.

“What I call the “the MoMA standard” for product review and certification. I have no doubt today that the professional architect and designer also accept the MoMA standard for what is genuine design and what is fake. The fact is, if you go onto the web, there is only one original and twenty companies are producing the fakes. It is not just about professional or legal standards, but an issue of product development and design integrity.

I like to say, there are two buyers of fakes; one who thinks he is getting off cheap only to find out later they fooled themselves and the ones who were deceived by the seller and thought they were purchasing genuine. There is only one type of sellers of counterfeit, and their only interest is profit. Design, product development, and creativity do not exist in their vocabulary. Educate the buyer, and the seller will find out it is no longer profitable to make money on others’ creativity. The fact is, the market ultimately decides which direction to go and I have no doubt, culturally, America is going the genuine way. For example, in the distribution end of the industry, two of the largest distributors of counterfeit product in the last 10 years have gone in opposite directions: Palazzetti closed all of its U.S. retail stores and DWR, as of 2006, has stated they will only sell authorized and licensed designs. Obviously as a major public company, they thought it was necessary for a good business. Selling real Herman Miller and Knoll with knockoff Le Corbusier was not only deceiving but unethical.”

“The fact is modern design deserves the same protection for its intellectual property as art. And this brings us to the Corcoran. How can a major museum that is presenting a modern perspective on loan from the prestigious V&A museum of London, not only present fake Rietveld, but actually sell the fake Rietveld out of their museum store? I have no doubt, had the museum featured 17 fake Warhol lithographs, the public would have been aghast. So why would the Corcoran show not only disrespect, but indifference and indignity for this meaningful, historical presentation? We are still waiting for an answer from the Corcoran.”

Michael Manes