Thomas Chair in Dark Wood and Grey CushionAre you sitting comfortably? By the end of October – after a six-month “amnesty” for retailers – that luxury will cost you more, maybe 12 times more, than now. And it's all thanks to the bloody European Union.It's thanks to Britain bringing its own copyright laws on furniture design into line with our partners – a dovetailing that was meant to be happening in 2020, but has been expedited after representations from the licensees (we'll get back to them) as well as the estates of dead designers. The measure also grants designers the same protection as that enjoyed by plastic and graphic artists, and gives them rough parity with writers, musicians, broadcasters and film-makers. Which is all well and good. But the change could precipitate the disappearance of the “Barcelona”-style chair – currently so ubiquitous in building society branches – and the fetishisation of its licensed equivalent, originally conceived by Mies van der Rohe and costing nearly £6,000.

The starter-home couple will be denied the pleasure of those Italian chrome standard lamps on long spindly arcs, because a licensed Castiglioni version will cost them more than a grand. The same goes for Anglepoise lamps. And you'll be so scared of scratching your clear Perspex Louis Ghost dining-chairs that you won't dare sit on them. What's at issue is the deal on offer to dead designers' estates. At the moment, the copyright in a creator's work holds for 25 years from his or her death – during which time top-drawer copiers can buy licenses to put the designs into manufacture. The licensees can then make limited editions, before churning out as many as they can sell for a few thousand quid a time. But after a quarter of a century, it's open season. Then, the knock-off merchants can legally swing into action. And soon your online oulet is advertising, say, a replica-Charles Eames reclining armchair and footstool – perfect examples of the current taste for “mid-century modern” – for around £400, instead of the £5,000 that the licensee's stockist will charge you.

Anglepoise lamp: Out of copyrightFrom 28 April, furniture designs in Britain will be protected from unlicensed manufacture for 75 years – that's an extra 50. Under the new legislation, retailers selling unlicensed copies – whether classics or bog-standard bog seats – will be liable to fines up to £50,000 and jail terms of up to 10 years. What's more – or less – we'll see fewer representations of the expensive stuff as licensors begin to assert their rights to charge for and control the reproduction of their work in the visual media. It's doubtful that the Coalition government really considered that ramification, when it decided to repeal Section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1998). Its intention, reasonably enough, was to protect intellectual property. But what it couldn't take account of is the debate within the “design community”. For while Sir Terence may want his chicken-brick to bankroll future generations of Conrans, an interior designer who shall be nameless says it will now be a “nightmare” to prop rooms for his clients at a reasonable mark-up.

And, this being the design community, there are socially conscious angles to consider, too. Step forward Stephen Bayley, the design pundit who knows so much about his subject that his email address starts with “guru@”. He agrees that the issue is “complicated” but clearly believes design should have a point beyond the percentage cut:tiffany chair for sale manila “The essential, defining proposition of modern design is – or rather, was – that an idea can be limitlessly reproduced at low cost,” he says. buy wheelchair pretoria“Clearly, the legislation may protect the auteur, but it seems to me at odds with the principles of widely available democratised luxury which make design such an interesting subject. dining chairs for sale on gumtree cape town

The danger as I see it is that too costive a view of copyright protection might bring the subject into the ancient realms of rarity, preciousness, attribution, provenance and all the other antique stuff that attends fine art.” And if, after that, you need a lie-down. second hand chairs durbando it on an Eileen Gray day-bed. folding chair rentals san antonioScott Howard is a family business, formed in 1977, with a showroom in London's West End, just off Baker Street and headquarters based in Somerset in England.papasan chair covers sale We specialise in high quality furniture. Amongst our most popular ranges are the USM Haller furniture range and the iconic chair designs of Charles & Ray Eames. As well as our own bespoke office furniture we also offer our own executive furniture, boardroom furniture and reception desks, crafted to your specification by our own cabinet makers.

For nearly forty years, two generations of the Appleton family have admired and sold the iconic designs of the greatest designers of the twentieth century - names such as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm, Verner Panton, Eileen Grey, Isamu Noguchi, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick, to name but a few. Here at Scott Howard furniture, we are immensely proud to be able to bring these great designers' products to the general market and make them affordable to allChina's days as a major producer of fake designer goods are numbered, according to Design Shanghai's creative director Ross Urwin. Chinese consumers are increasingly turning away from copies as they become more aware of the difference between high-quality products and cheap fakes, Urwin told Dezeen. "I do think those days are coming to an end," he said during an interview in London, while speaking about the Design Shanghai trade fair taking place later this month.

"The consumer now in China, on average, has that ability to see the difference, whereas 10 years ago – even five years ago – they didn't," said Urwin. "They'd see one, then see the other, and they'd buy the one that's half the price, but wouldn't notice that the seams were coming apart." However, Urwin warned that copyists are turning their attention away from domestic goods to entire buildings such as hotels. "They're turning away from product copying now and they're copying concepts of hotels," he said. "Literally replicating hotels that are around the world, in China, but very cheaply." British architect Zaha Hadid is one of a number of designers that has already been affected by this shift. In 2013, her Wangjing Soho buildings in Beijing were pirated by a developer in Chongqing. Based in Hong Kong, Urwin joined Design Shanghai – China's leading international design trade fair – as its creative director just three months before its inaugural edition last year.

He believes that events like his allow Chinese consumers to see genuine products first-hand so they can make better comparisons between these and the fakes. A growth in the number of Chinese nationals travelling abroad has also helped expose residents to products designed in Europe and the US, according to Urwin. "I think [copying] was rife 10 years ago, and that was because people were not travelling like they do now," he said. "They're a lot more educated now than they were before." Despite the increase in consumer awareness, Urwin admitted that western brands are still cautious about exhibiting their work in China. "A few people said to me about Design Shanghai that 'we'd love to do it, but we're afraid of being copied'," he said. "Do you have a catalogue? Do you have a website? Italian designer Stefano Giovannoni recently told Dezeen that there are more than 1,000 Chinese companies currently producing copies of his Bombo Stool. Design Shanghai will take place from 27 to 30 March.