If you’ve followed Restoration Hardware for a while you’re familiar with the big design/philosophy changes and 20 lb catalogs and maybe even know about the lawsuits between them and companies like Obsolete (you will love Obsolete) — which Obs at one time (it’s down now) even started a website to document the reproductions that RH would procure from Obs and then churn out mass-market. More recently, there was a lawsuit between RH and Emeco Furniture for their version of the Navy Chair that is *crazy-close* to the *real* Navy Chair, and that suit was settled earlier this year.
Well, RH has some karma payback going on, because Shugie and I were at a warehouse last month to pick out some marble tiles for a little project, and they have RH look-alikes (some more -alike than others, but total rip-offs nonetheless).
Pics from one of my visits to a ‘real’ RH: — I think Shug and Shugie would like this desk:
Faux RH — some of these are designs from a while ago, but if you know your RH, you know these pieces (they had another design of the Aviator Wing desk pictured above at RH that I didn’t photograph there, but you get the idea), and the almost-exact copy of the scissor pendant top-right:
Besides the fact that the *real* RH makes furniture scaled for giants now, they have officially jumped the shark with the Czech Gym Mat Coffee Table.
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There’s been so much going on now with renewed interest in Zelda and Scott with the upcoming The Great Gatsby movie (at the museum in Montgomery, on Sunday, April 21 at 2:30p; they are having a tea and question-and-answer with Therese Anne Fowler, author of the new Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.
At The Plaza in NYC, they have designed a suite in honor of the TGG.
What does all this have to do with RH, mentioned above?
From the Daily Mail:
The art deco-designed space includes period pieces from Restoration Hardware (a leading luxury home furnishings purveyor), images from the film, the author’s complete collection of works, as well as coffee table books that channel New York in the roaring ’20s.
The 83m2 suite is located on the 18th floor, and reservations will be accepted from April 22 for stays from May 10.
The Fifth Avenue hotel is also transforming the iconic Champagne Bar and Todd English Food Hall with Great Gatsby-themed gin-based cocktails and a live jazz band.
The Fitzgerald Tea – $79 (R720) for adults, $45 (R415) for children – includes a 1920s-themed menu, with items like Pâté de Fruit with Gin Rickey Sugar, a Sachertorte with Amarena Cherry, and the “Jazz Age Chocolate Bon-Bon”. The Champagne Bar is being transformed into a Moët Pop-Up Bar, which will offer a special cocktail made exclusively for The Plaza, called the Moët Imperial Gatsby.
Guests will also be able to browse an exclusive collection of props and costumes from the film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.