google ad sense 728 x 90

Showing posts with label fake for real. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fake for real. Show all posts

Whacked Out Willow China By Sweden's Nille Svensson. Fake China Dinnerware.




Adding his own narrative to what at first glance looks like classic Willow Pattern China (a style of dinnerware which originated in England in the early 1800s), designer Nille Svensson has created "Fake China."



The blue and white bone china plates measuring 12.3 inches in diameter were originally created for an exhibition in Stockholm on the theme of identity. The Fake China is a cultural twist on the original Chinaware, adding contemporary elements like planes, boats, factories and automobiles. At the end of this post is a detailed explanation about the plate designs in the designer's own words.












ABOUT FAKE CHINA (by Nille Svensson):
On the 12th of September 1745, the sailing ship Götheborg, part of the Swedish East India Company fleet, returned to Sweden from Canton after more than 30 months at sea. It is believed that over 35 members of the crew died during the journey. Only 900 meters from its home harbour in Gothenburg, the ship ran aground and sank. The cargo of several thousand pieces of china was lost and the sailors who did not survive the journey had died for nothing. This story of the harsh reality of commerce has always fascinated me.

When I was asked to create something on the theme of »identity« for the Notch exhibition in 2009, I first thought a lot about how contemporary China, at least from a Western perspective, is generally regarded as a place were things are produced but not designed. China's design identity is also associated with the issue of plagiarism and fake products. I then came to think about the sad fate of Götheborg, and the extremely high demand of Chinese ceramics in Europe at that time. A high demand created out of the fact that the knowledge of how to manufacture ceramics of such quality was not locally available.

As the understanding of production techniques spread, manufacturing of chinaware started in Europe as well. In many cases featuring designs that looked »Chinese«, or were direct copies of Chinese originals. The design was made with the main purpose to add a quality of authenticity to what was basically product piracy. The most famous of these designs is perhaps the »Willow design« made around 1790. The company behind this plate even invented a fake Chinese legend based on the motif just to further promote the authenticity of the product. The motif and the legend has in turn been copied and spread widely ever since. There is even an animated Disney film based on the willow tree legend. From the early plagiarism, the designs grew and permuted and became the starting point of the British and Dutch porcelain-tradition as we know it.

Contemporary designers and artists even relates to the Willow-motif as a kind of starting point. The copy has grown to become an original and as such carries cultural integrity in its own right as it has transformed through the states of copy - original - culture - tradition. What we today may regard as a highly valuable (collectable) item was originally created as a simple copy.

It is a healthy reminder of how cultural influenses and values shift and change over time. Not only geographically, but economically and demographically, the general presumption that the Western world is where things are designed and originated, whilst the East is where they get produced and copied will not prevail forever.

With all this in mind I went to the Museum of Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, stole designs and design elements from plates in the collection, and created my own »fake china« plates, while convinced that nobody can copy anything without adding something to the story.

The result is a small step of cultural evolution. -- Nille Svensson, designer

Where To Buy Fake China


FAKE-CHINA is included in the Röhsska Museet permantent design collection.

In Stockholm, Sweden FAKE-CHINA are available at Svenskt Tenn

For US sales and retail, please contact Jennifer Garcia

For general questions regarding FAKE-CHINA, please email: inquiries@fake-china.com

Play, Learn and Laugh: The Fake For Real Memory Game




This fun boxed game is based on the same simple premise as other 'memory' games, only it's a clever, well-executed version for the 18+ crowd. Lie the 60 included cards out face down and flip them over two at a time in hopes of matching the pair. If the cards do not match, place them back down and continue until you've matched the pairs. Only in this case, the 30 pairs contrasts one 'real' photo and one 'fake' photo.



What do I mean by a clever, well-executed version? Take a look at some of the FAKE/REAL 'pairs' from the game:









designer: Hendrik-Jan Grievink.
About the editor: Koert van Mensvoort is a philosopher, scientist, researcher and artist. He is an assistent Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands and co-director of the All-Media foundation, an organisation that researches and visualizes current cultural issues. Among his works are the Datafountain, the TV documentary The Woods smell of Shampoo and the Fake for Real memory game.

Buy the Fake for Real Memory Game here



Other equally creative and well-executed memory games from the same publishers, BIS Publishers, are Twins, Visual Power, Amsterdam and soon to be released...Typefaces!


Buy the Twins Memory Game Here

Buy The Visual Power Memory Game Here


And the Typefaces Memory game is to be released this coming November.



Buy the Fake for Real Memory Game here

Please donate

C'mon people, it's only a dollar.