The value of the Original

"It was designed not only to look great, but also to feel and function like it. I want it to keep its value. To accompany you for a long time. Get a patina that refines it. It should not grow older, but more beautiful". So says the campaign "The Original is by Vitra".

In recent years, attention to design has grown enormously. A change also at level of the public, ever larger and less elite. Driven by the desire to have some nice pieces at home, but at the same time to save money, people started buying copies of great design icons.

The challenge for producers and retailers has therefore become to let understand the true value of the original.

The "beautiful design" is the result of an hard work: creativity and know-how. It's not just about technical skills: behind a product there is history, culture, project and commitment to be able to create a unique sensation in the end user.

Every new product, be it classic or new, involves an investment for companies: the former need to be constantly adapted to the needs of users or to today's production techinques, the latter to always stay one step ahead with respect to fashions and needs of the public.

The counterfeit market, on the other hand, escapes the creative process that is upstream: it takes existing success ideas and copies them, often with poor quality results.

Now the copies of the design end up in large-scale distributions, so it's very important to increase the protection tools. Companies do it in different ways: some register product brands, others invest in innovation to make products techologically inaccessible to counterfeiters, other still increase services such as repair, replacement and warranty.

The important thing is to understand the value of an original in a market besieged by endless imitations.

Because an original product is timeless, has an history and pays attention to details and to people.