In Sad But True: Helpless Against Copycats, Carolina Gonzalez covers a blatant instance of jewelry art being copied.
Her post documents how someone copied the jewelry designs of Lorianne Jantti – and then, in the comments below the post, Lorianne adds that this design thief “also copied and pasted my bio into her site, translated it into italian and put her name on it!”
Having your creativity violated is a disheartening and frustrating experience.
I know an extremely talented pottery artist who hesitates to put up a website or sell her work online, because her creations are already often imitated and mass produced – just from copycats seeing her work in galleries.
It’s a small consolation that copycats are seldom able to build a clientele and grow a successful business – whether it’s because of their lazy approach to “creating” a product line, or because their copies are missing the spark of the original work (or because Karma catches up with them!).
I’ve written about dealing with copycats recently, and I welcome your insights on dealing this form of idea theft.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This has happened to me twice–once several years ago with a “make your own” kit that I designed for rosaries (of all things!) and again a month or so ago at a neighborhood show. I noticed a woman with a concealed camera snapping pictures of one of my designs.
My reaction both times has been the same: After I get over the initial anger, I decide to fix it so that the thieves can’t profit. In the case of the rosary kits, I published on my website a complete, step-by-step set of illustrated instructions that anyone is free to copy and follow. When the necklace incident occurred, I did exactly the same thing, including a couple of little secrets that make it work. (If she relies on her photographs only, she’s going to have structural problems.) I published my necklace instructions in my blog, which has a “Creative Commons-Some Rights Reserved” copyright. Anyone is free to make one of the necklaces for their private use or to give as a gift.
The rosary instructions have turned out to be their own reward, having garnered a fair amount of praise and a wide circulation. I’ve “grown” them into a complete set of resource pages that include various appropriate gemstones and beads with information on how to select them. These have provided me with lots of visitors and buyers. One of these days, I plan to turn all that raw material into a book.
As far as the necklace, I content myself with the thought that the would-be pirate probably doesn’t read my blog. It pleases me to imagine her version of the necklace, with its heavy pendant, turning limp and giving ‘way, possibly scattering umpteen grams of seed beads in its wake.
Good for you. I am regularly apprached by Chinese manufacturers offering to make my jewellery cheaper for me than my fabuolous Mexican artisans… Aside form the fact I would ever betray their years of loyalty, there is no way I would let a culture famous for it’s knocking off of everything from Gucci shoes to Prada handbags anywhere near my designs. I suspect it would be a matter of weeks before a cheap tiny version of my pieces started appearing on Ebay at a fraction of the cost.