They say the best form of flattery is imitation, but as an interiors journalist and someone whose family has been in the business of furniture for years, I’m not so convinced when it comes to our homes.
A quick search online is all it takes to reveal heaps of convincing dupes ‘inspired’ by design classics — from the iconic Eames lounge chair created by Charles and Ray Eames in 1956 to the famed Noguchi coffee table conceived by Isamu Noguchi in 1944 — as well as more recent creations including the Cloud couch by Timothy Oulton from Restoration Hardware (“often imitated, never duplicated”) and now, the TEDDY™ sofa by OMHU. Indeed, the dupe industry is huge — there are dedicated retailers, and it’s estimated to be worth $1.79 trillion by 2030. But at what cost?
This week, in an unprecedented move to counteract the countless imitations of its popular boneless, modular foam design, Danish sofa brand OMHU launched a dupe of its own sofa — deliberately misspelled as TEDY™ in a familiar orange colorway — with a limited-edition run of 100 across Temu, Etsy, and dupe.com, retailing for just £599.99 instead of the usual £1,495. The knock-offs sold out in under 10 minutes, but the underlying message lingers.
The duped sofas came with a tag reading: “So many dupes. Only one original.”
(Image credit: OMHU)
Livingetc’s stance is simple: we respect design and don’t and won’t ever knowingly write about duped furniture, as they’re copies of someone else’s creative work, often made abroad, cheaply, with poor working conditions and a negative environmental impact. Also, ‘dupe’ furniture just tends to look cheap.
The same principles of ‘fast fashion’ can apply to ‘fast furniture’. It’s why Michelle Ogundehin, the writer and presenter of the TV show Interior Design Masters, spearheaded the ‘Equal Rights for Design’ campaign (backed by interiors powerhouses Sir Terence Conran and Sir James Dyson) to highlight the disparity between the UK copyright protection for designed items and the creation of art, music, or literature.
OMHU’s Iconic Dupe campaign, which turned design copying into the creative idea, also involved working with celebrity ‘dupefluencers’ and gifting the real deal to influencers who already owned knockoffs of its sofa for side-by-side comparisons.
“Getting duped is iconic as only design icons get copied at this scale,” explains Alexander Morabbi Wulsh, CMO at the Copenhagen-based company. Creative director Christine Smith adds: “Normally, you’d just report dupes or ignore them, but we spotted a creative opportunity to create global awareness, so we made our own to make fun of the competition while still proving that we’re the OG of sofas.”
But it wasn’t all PR spin. At the heart of the idea was a viral showcase of the original sofa that inspired thousands of fakes and a solid case for why it’s still worth investing in, from its original design to its quality craftsmanship. That, and a timely reminder as we all try to keep up with social media’s rapid trend cycle…
The original two-seater, the TEDDY™ sofa, is all about simplicity without fussy legs or intricate mechanisms, while it quickly and easily transforms into a sofa bed. It’s made from a hardwearing foam with a chrome-plated metal frame and removable covers that can be unzipped and washed in the machine. It’s available in a spectrum of colors, from orange to slushie blue and candyfloss, but my favorite is the black-and-white zebra pattern.
Designed as a chair in its own right, or to complement the sofa, the TEDDY™ armchair is half the size of the original and can be converted into a daybed for downtime or an extra mattress for sleepovers. Sure, you could plump for something neutral — slate, cream-white, sand — but my pick is the candyfloss colorway for adding a shot of fun into a living space.
More than just a footrest, although it’s pretty good for encouraging you to kick back and relax, the TEDDY™ ottoman can act as a table for covetable tomes and a tray of drinks and nibbles, or as extra seating when you’re hosting guests. Better still, it can also transform into a spare mattress for those impromptu sleepovers. It’s got to be the all-new pickle colorway for me.
There’s lots to love about boneless sofas, even if they don’t have the shape-shifting capabilities of OMHU’s TEDDY™ — particularly the fact that without any internal framework, they can fit in all kinds of spaces.
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