“When you look at Scrapile, you’ll see that every piece we’ve ever made has a pattern that is continuous throughout. You can follow a strip from the bottom of one leg up and all the way across our longest dining table, then watch it waterfall down the other leg. The same is true of every piece we’ve ever made, creating the monolithic effect of being carved out of a piece of stone. This is not true of the 4Korners pieces.”

Let me breakdown the other points of Scrapile. I will paraphrase their words:
1) They CANNOT get a patent on gluing strips together (for obvious reasons).
2) Although the AESTHESTIC is a large part of Scrapile’s identity, Scrapile’s process EVOLVES to better support its original concept to (a) minimize waste and (b) recycle its waste. AESTHETICS means BEAUTY and NOT ORIGINALITY. All the furniture makers should share Scrapile’s (and 4Korner’s) green concepts.
3) Scrapile suggests (and rightly so) that the issue should rest.

I hope that Scrapile and 4Korners enjoy the party. Brooklyn has room for two passionate furniture makers.

Fred

There is no way I would confuse these two credenzas. Not even if I was squinting at 100 paces.

The small tables uses scrap wood. Construction and joinery are different. Scrap is used differently.
Varying widths, Scrapile’s continuous strips are not present.

Bart thanks for addressing this and being gracious about it.

Best of luck to Scrapile and 4Korners.

Is Scrapile the first outfit to glue pieces of scrap wood together? No (apparently it’s common practice in Bali).

Has 4Korners been in our studio? Yes.

Do we have a patent on glueing wood scraps together? No, nor can we get one, nor would we want one. We encourage, in fact we challenge, every designer/craftsman to find creative ways in which to make use of their own waste. If you can achieve zero-waste, God bless.

Regarding Scrapile…although the aesthetic is a large part of our identity, the true essence of Scrapile lies in the process which continues to evolve to better support the original concept: to remove as much material as possible from the waste stream and drop it back into the market, replacing virgin forest products. In that respect, aesthetic is simply a vehicle for the overall mission.

When Carlos and I started Scrapile four years ago, we set out to solve a two-part problem. How do we process the waste we were producing from our projects? Could we develop a repeatable process to scale up and absorb other peoples’ waste as well?

When you look at Scrapile, you’ll see that every piece we’ve ever made has a pattern that is continuous throughout. You can follow a strip from the bottom of one leg up and all the way across our longest dining table, then watch it waterfall down the other leg. The same is true of every piece we’ve ever made, creating the monolithic effect of being carved out of a piece of stone. This is not true of the 4Korners pieces.

Our mission from day one has been to be as environmentally effective as possible. Like anything else, this can be measured in many different ways. In the case of Scrapile, the obvious is in tons of waste converted. Less obvious maybe is in the way in which our work has influenced the way other designers think about material use.

Do I think 4Korners shot a little too close to Scrapile in our own backyard? Probably so, but far be it from me to tell someone not to re-use their own waste.

They say immitation is the greatest form of flattery, but what I find most flattering is the fact that so many of our supporters were looking out for us this weekend. That in itself speaks to the effectiveness of the project. Scrapile has always been a labor of love, and to me that is the sweetest validation.

A heartfelt thanks to the extended Scrapile family for having our backs in our absence. Now, I think it’s time to put this issue to bed and get ready for design week.

Bart

P.S. I hope everyone (including 4Korners) will make it out to the Haute Green party Friday 7-9pm to support innovative green design from around the globe.

Why have Scrapile decided not to show this year?

In any case, for those in the know, Scrapile will always be ‘the original and best’ – and 4Korners will have done their own reputation no favours if they become known for plagiarism.

More generally, my experience is that there are no new ideas in design. Someone somewhere has always done everything before, and someone will do it again after you’ve gone, so you’ve just got to ride the wave for as long as you can. Scrapile seem to have had a good thing going in that they made a very common technique ‘theirs’ for a while, but that was never going to last.

The same thing goes for the credenza. I’m sure there are many credenzas that have a similar basic design to these two. Why didn’t you show a picture of the ‘4Korners’design with it’s credenza drawers open ? Is it because they are doors, not drawers… or that the drawers sre diffrent enough in their sizes from the ‘Scapile’ design that doing so would have weakened your argument ?

What are the pysical measurements. For example… is one table, or credenza, the same height… width… and depth as the other designs they’re similar too ?

Did you know that cb2.com now sells a chair design that’s very similar to the famous Eames lmolded fiberglass chairs for $149 ! (see: http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODf476&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E&parentId=WE-SH1FRNOFF&retainNav=true&cmsrc=WE-SH1FRNOFF )

Is this design theivery ? I suspect not. Ditto for ‘4KKorners’.

Are the ‘4Korners’ designs less expensive ?

I wish both designers well.

P.S. From what the photos do show… I like the ‘4Korners’ credenza better than the ‘Scarpile’one.

Its easy to get side tracked with the different inputs about lamination and dimension and “in the 80’s”. They are all probably part of a larger discussion around this furniture, copying design or simply being inspired by it.
For this to happen in such a small demographic is, in my opinion, respectless.

But you know what they say…what goes around comes around…

hey, and “David in Bali”, you might want to go back to school and learn some more about design and wood processing,

Which means you can’t copyright the idea of using laminated scrap wood, but only the actual design. And the designs in this case are completely different.

After seeing the blatant copying that goes on in China, this is frankly a non-issue by comparison.