Are 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.chair cover rentals in tulsa ok What's at issue is the deal on offer to dead designers' estates. lace chair sashes for hireAt 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. where to buy unfinished adirondack chairsThe licensees can then make limited editions, before churning out as many as they can sell for a few thousand quid a time. chair cover rental springfield il

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.chair covers to hire in essex Anglepoise lamp: Out of copyrighttables and chairs rental qcFrom 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: “The essential, defining proposition of modern design is – or rather, was – that an idea can be limitlessly reproduced at low cost,” he says.

“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. 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. do it on an Eileen Gray day-bed. Mid-century modern gets minimized. Before going any further, a disclaimer: we are not on the verge of writing about dollhouses. These are mini modernist manses and mid-century inspired miniatures we’re blogging about here, a tribute to those of us who cannot afford and/or agree with our spouses on acquiring the full-size Saarinen we love so dear. Thanks to the internet, we’ve been able to tap into the minds, closets and, okay, “dollhouses” of a different sort of design devotee to bring you 20 examples of mini-modernism at its most minimal (in stature), divided into two sections: architecture and furnishings.

But remember, these are not dollhouses in the traditional sense. The mini-modernists that build and most probably obsess over them favor clean lines over opulent Victorian and streamlined interiors to stately Tudor. They strive to bring the Vitra back, put some Le Corbusier into it and infuse a little Eames into the drab of everyday. For that we say, play on. The Kaleidoscope House (also pictured above) For mini-modernists, this out-of-issue toy house from the now-defunct Bozart Toys is, like, Graceland. Designed by architect Peter Wheelwright and artist Laurie Simmons in 2001, the collector’s item now sells for up to thousands of dollars. Also covetable, the Edward House from brinca dada inspired by Neutra’s Kaufmann House and Gary Cooper’s home designed by A. Quincy Jones. Features glass corners, minimalist cut stone fireplace, hardwood floors, open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows. It bears mentioning that the mini-modernist abode is crafted with eco-friendly woods and non-toxic, lead-free paints.

A truly tricked out miniature dream house that was influenced by the De Stijl movement of the early 20th century. The Bennett House is also a tribute to the Rietveld’s Schröder House. Referencing the iconic dutch structure, Architect Tim Boyle, who designed the mini-house, explains: “Townhouses are typically a stack of floors with a few windows on each floor, and no inside/outside relationship. I prefer architecture that reveals structure and engineering, hence windows extend past floors to show the weight and thickness of the structure.” Another from brinca dada, this one “inspired by the minimalist masterpieces of Paul Rudolph and Tadao Ando…featur[ing] a concrete-and-glass feel, but with the breezy openness of a beachfront home.” The Villa Sibi House For just $960, the Villa Sibi House, Garden and Pool can be yours. While the sole product reviewer deems the house “unattractive” and “lonely looking,” we can think of at least one little girl who would love to play with it.

For over twenty years, the Vitra Design Museum’s Miniatures Collection has been creating mini replicas of milestones in furniture design, so it is only appropriate that we kick off our itty bitty interiors with the most iconic piece of furniture of all time: the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman in 1:6 scale. Yours for just $630, a fraction of the grown up cost. The Zig Zag Stoel Also from the Vitra Design Museum, the Zig zag stoel by Gerrit T. Rietveld. We’ll let the museum explain: “Rietveld takes up Mart Stam’s idea for a cantilevered chair (1926) and makes formal references to the Sitzgeiststuhl of the brothers Heinz and Bodo Rasch (1927).” Admired as a synthesis of form, function and construction, the Zig zag stoel is a mini-must for the serious collector. The Mies van der Rohe Tubular Chair In the 1920s, tubular steel become the preferred material for avant-garde designers representing “a rejection of the conventional, overladen bourgeois interior of the time, filled with massive furniture and decorative trinkets.”

So, too, has it found a place in the contemporary mini-house. Called a symbol of the optimistic, consumer-driven popular culture of the 60s, the ball chair also echoes the enthusiasm of the space age. Another Vitra Design Museum mini. Le Corbusier’s Chaise Longue à Réglage Continu In miniature for just over $400; full size, if you can find it, priceless. Gehry’s Wiggle Side Chair Back in 1970, Frank O. Gehry discovered a process enabling functional, sculptural cardboard furniture. The result, the side chair. From PRD Miniatures, the S chair in what looks like felt. We’ve seen that clock before, and now you can own it in miniature for just $28, from minimodernistas. From brinca dada, a living room set reminiscent of a certain mad man’s den. From PRD Miniatures in 1:12 scale. A meticulously hand-sewn Pop Art scene from miniaturist Shopping Sherpa. Swedish simplicity by Stephanie Kilgast, aka PetitPlat. Tiny room furnished by Elf Miniatures and REAC.