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What is ‘Get Real’?
Get Real is an initiative organised by the Editor of Elle Decoration magazine and supported by Sir Terence Conran and The Conran Shop. The campaign was originally conceived to address the disparity between intellectual property laws in the arts, which saw product and industrial designers receive significantly less copyright protection than was granted to artists, writers and musicians.
Until May 2012, designers in Britain have benefited from only 25 years protection, from the date at which the copyright is issued, in contrast to the 70 years subsequent to an artist’s death, that is afforded to the other creative industries.
Until this year, the United Kingdom was one of only three Member States in the EU to place a limit on the term of protection for copyright works which are produced through an industrial process.
An e-petition was launched in January 2012, calling on the government to afford the discipline of design the same UK copyright protection as is currently granted to works of literature, drama, music, film and art. The Conran Shop hosted the launch of Get Real: Fight the Fakes, at an event in our Marylebone store in March 2012, and have actively sought to raise awareness for the cause.
The Conran Shop has sought to promote original designs, since our beginnings, and Sir Terence Conran is a distinguished advocate and curator of design classics.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE |
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What is a Design Classic?
Design Classic suggests product that is original, durable and made to the highest quality. Unauthorised versions of iconic design classics might be tempting with their significantly lower prices, but the quality will be inferior.
Authorised pieces have the designer’s permission and original specification and, invariably, will be stamped with the maker’s name and serial number, ensuring the piece as an authentic, identifiable design that can be passed on through generations.
Cheaper copies will not have the skilled and labour-intensive craftsmanship, superior quality of raw materials and high-standard finish of authorised design classics.
Conran Classic is a collection available at The Conran Shop, made entirely from authentic, authorised classic designs. To know more about the benefits of investing in the real article ask in-store at The Conran Shop.
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Get Real succeeds
On 22nd May 2012, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced that UK copyright laws for designers would be amended.
Under the new measures, ‘artistic’ designs of manufactured goods (including certain furniture, lighting and jewellery) created prior to 1987 would now be protected from unauthorised copying.
Michelle Ogundehin described the changes as “timely, correct and smart future-thinking for Brand UK. There are many more steps, not least of which will be changes in enforcement policy to back it up, but this was the big hurdle”.
‘By protecting new designs more generously,’ says Terence Conran, ‘we are encouraging more investment of time and talent in British design. That will lead to more manufacturing in Britain, and that
in turn will lead to more jobs – which we desperately need right now. Properly protected design can help make the UK a profitable workshop again. We have the creative talent – lets use it.’
The e-petition is still active, and the campaign will continue to champion the rights of product designers, and to ensure that the United Kingdom remains at the forefront of contemporary design, and not a "safe harbour" for copyists, manufacturers producing cut-price fakes of classic designs.
The Conran Shop continues to stand by its commitment, and stock nothing but original, authorised designs from mid-century icons to the contemporary cutting-edge models. We firmly believe that our customers deserve the best and that they too value creative thinking and superior quality above copies and replica designs.
Read more and register your support for the Get Real campaign here.
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