Posted by Greg
Accessories | 08 Nov 07 | Comments (2) | Stumble
Calgary collective Palette Industries is composed of designers Ian Campana, Nathan Tremblay and Samuel Ho. Their collection consists of a number of interesting pieces; some inspired by the beauty of Nature and others purely urban form. Our favorite, the Castor vase draws its story from the partly chewed trees found in beaver (AKA Castor) habitats, with other pieces such as the Split lamp made of powdercoated steel, Dharma, and Boat chair. See more after the jump. JGB
Castor Vase.
Castor Vase.
Split Lamp.
Boat Chair.
Dharma Chair.
The new Castor Vase looks exactly like the Bad Beaver Vase that Paige Russell has been producing for a couple years. (http://www.paigerussell.com/work/badbeaver.html)
Funny that they are both Canadian - is it similar mindsets, or was one "inspired" by the other? I can't imagine that the Castor is an intentional knock-off, as designers usually tend to have more integrity than that. It is interesting to see how ideas manifest in similar ways, and how fast those ideas can be seen around the world. The question that then needs to be asked is: what is the responsibility of the designer of the 2nd or 3rd or 4th "iteration" of a product?
I think the Castor Vase is a couple of years old as well, not sure the exact year on either though. I really can't see either intentionally copying from the other. I think it was pure coincidence.
Good question to bring up though. Be cool to see a posting on the subject and see where the debate goes as well as examples.