eBay Find of the Day: Mary Quant Dining Set

Now, before you go and get all excited, please note that this is doll furniture. Then again, maybe that's why you're excited.

In that case, here are the details: The tiny, vintage Saarinen-style table and chair set was designed by Sixties British fashion icon Mary Quant to furnish her Daisy doll's swinging Chelsea pad.

Imagine Daisy taking her tea here before shimmying into a groovy day-glo minidress, hitting the shops on Carnaby Street, and going for a Vespa ride with a bloke named Trevor. Yeah, baby!

Current bid: $14.50.

eBay Find of the Day: Tulip Table and Bertoia Chairs

It's a midcentury modern double-whammy: A vintage Eero Saarinen-style tulip table with a set of four original Harry Bertoia wire side chairs for Knoll.

(The chairs -- unlike the knockoff table -- appear to be the real deal, though they do need some minor repairs.)

Wouldn't this mod dinette set look super-smart in an all-white kitchen or on covered patio?

Current bid: $238. (Hurry -- the auction ends Sunday night.)

eBay Find of the Day: Mod Minis

These iconic chairs from eBay seller GreenHime are hip, modern, collectible -- and only a few bucks each. They're also less than 3 inches tall.

But oh, what style! These would be perfect for a mod dollhouse (if you have a youngster you're trying to indoctrinate with your design aesthetic), or look fab lined up on a shelf or shadowboxed and hung on the wall.

Made by Reac Japan, models include 1/12-scale copies of Arne Jacobsen's Ant, Egg, and Swan chairs, Eero Saarinen's Tulip Chair, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair, Verner Panton's Panton Chair, Eero Aarnio's Ball Chair, and other icons of modern seating.

Starting bids on the chairs are less than $10 each, plus $6 shipping ($4 for each additional chair). Compare to the equally cool -- but much pricier -- Vitra miniature chairs.


Check 'em out here.

Trendspotting: Inspiration or Imitation?

The arrival the other day of the latest CB2 catalog, coupled with my recent post about West Elm's new offerings, got me thinking: At what point does furniture "inspired" by midcentury design classics cross the line to outright mimicry?

Consider these examples:


Top left: CB2's Odyssey Table ($149); top right: IKEA's Docksta Table ($149); bottom: Eero Saarinen's iconic 1956 Tulip Table ($3,150 at Design Within Reach).

Left: CB2's Tornado Table ($119); right: Warren Platner's 1966 Side Table ($662 at Highbrow Furniture).


Left: West Elm's Patterned Veneer Coffee Table ($349); right: Milo Baughman's Burl and Chrome Coffee Table ($3,400 at 1stdibs).


Top left: CB2's Hippie Arm Chair ($229); top right: West Elm's Round Back Chair ($199); bottom: Hans Wegner's 1949 Wishbone Chair ($499 at House of Copenhagen).

Left: CB2's Double Dip Lamp ($199); right: Achille Castiglioni's circa-1962 Arco Lamp ($2,448 at DWR).

Left: West Elm's Sphere Pendant ($99); right: George Nelson's 1947 Ball Lamp ($299 at Velocity Art and Design).

Left: West Elm's Molded Desk Chair ($149); right: Charles and Ray Eames' 1948 Molded Plastic Armchair ($279 at Highbrow Furniture).

Left: West Elm's Scoop Back Chair ($79); right: Arne Jacobsen's 1955 Series 7 Chair ($394 at Retro Modern).

Left: West Elm's Wire Mesh Occasional Chair ($229); right: Harry Bertoia's 1952 Side Chair ($483 at Hive Modern).

Left: West Elm's Modern Storage Console ($599); right: Paul McCobb's 1950 Planner Group Credenza ($1,000 on eBay).

Clearly, these mass-produced knockoffs are more than "inspired" by the originals. Is that theft, or flattery? Would you rather spend thousands of dollars for a vintage, signed original or a licensed repro, or a fraction of that for a decent (if somewhat dishonest) imitation?

Personally, I'm more in the gimme-the-knockoff camp than the nothing-but-the-real-stuff crowd. If I stumbled on a mint-condition Saarinen table at a garage sale for $100, I'd be all over it. But, barring that, I don't have $3,150 for a simple white table (and I'd think twice about dropping that kind of cash even if I did) -- so I own the $149 IKEA Docksta. I feel a tiny bit guilty about it, but I'm not losing sleep at night.

How about you?