On copying

Back in 2009, when I was getting frustrated with the amount of copycats that were popping up on Etsy and elsewhere, I wrote about my concerns in a blog post titled "What is and is not okay."  True, I published a book in 2008 that shared my paintings, step by step,  but I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of folks who would create near replicas of my paintings and begin to sell them. It got worse in 2011 - two years after I posted that blog post - when e-courses started popping up, mainly by one person with a huge crafting audience - teaching classes based off the projects that I taught in my book that were focused around collage/girls/sentiment that looked eerily similar to my published projects. This kind of copying - the kind where you learn from someone else and then go and broadcast those teachings to hundreds/thousands of people in your audience all while claiming the style/voice/idea as your own does incredible damage - not just in the realm of spirit/karma, but also to the reputation/credibility/longevity of the original artist. Their work/message/style gets broadly diluted and can impact their livelihood. I've seen this happen to MANY colleagues. I am not alone in this struggle.

Since then, I've learned to stand in my values of integrity and courage and continue to do my thing, licensing my work since 2008 for beautiful gift and home decor products that are sold in boutiques nationwide (super grateful - dream. come. true). But with that level of commercial exposure comes a whole new level of copycats - not just from independents, but from large manufacturing companies.

There have been many near replicas of my licensed products since their debut in the market in 2009. Here are a couple of recents:


One season following the debut of my funky artful/patchwork couch with typewriter sentiment, mega store Hobby Lobby debuts their version - literally the same construction/style of couch, also with patchwork, also with typewriter sentiment. I certainly don't have any ownership over "patchwork" but my goodness, the similarities/timing are uncomfortable in this instance. It may not be a perfect copy, but it has definitely caused market confusion as evidenced by the several emails that came in wondering if it was my couch at Hobby Lobby stores.  They refuse to take responsibility, which is disheartening especially considering their founding principles and commitments. 

My figurines and hanging angels have been nearly replicated lots of times in the US market, but here's a recent Chinese copycat of my figurines. Crazy, no? Things get quite tricky when international law gets involved. 

All of this is to say that recently my friend, Lisa Congdon, had her work stolen by a large manufacturing company called Cody Foster. This blog post is in support of her and the issue at large - independents copying independents, manufacturing companies copying artists, manufacturing companies copying other manufacturing companies, and on and on. It happens everyday. I'm glad Lisa is going public. I want to support her. 
Check it out:

You can read Lisa's full post about it here. Since Lisa's post, there has been some tremendous support and conversation around this topic online, including over 255K Facebook shares, 20K+ tweets, and lots and lots of articles. West Elm even pulled ALL of their Cody Foster ornaments that were lined up to be sold in their stores this holiday season (you can read about their decision here). Anthropologie also decided to sever ties with Cody Foster. I also greatly admire Margo Tantau's blog post on the matter - she's someone who has worked in the industry from all different angles and currently works for a large manufacturing company. I have mega respect for her, her vision, her honesty, and her courage to speak up from within the industry. 
Like Margo says, we have to be brave. The artists. The licensing agents. The manufacturing companies. The retailers who buy from the manufacturing companies. All of us. And we have to be brave in standing up for ourselves (and others) as well. Bravo to you, Lisa, for speaking up. You've got my support.