Diet Prada calls out Virgil Abloh for his IKEA collaboration

Ripped off.

Off-White’s Virgil Abloh could be in hot water, after being called out for copying a chair design ­as part of his collaborative MARKERAD project with IKEA.

During an IKEA workshop last month, Abloh and IKEA creative leader Henrik Most described their design inspiration as elevating a chair so it ‘feels more like an art object than a typical chair.’

But Instagram account Diet Prada is not buying it. As highlighted in a post, that ‘typical chair’ is actually an iconic mid-century design by furniture designer Paul McCobb. Almost identical, Abloh’s design has an additional doorstop detail to one of the legs.

Known for calling out copycats in the industry, Diet Prada gives the fashion designer a solid nudge, suggesting that ‘it would actually be much more interesting to know the sources of your “inspiration”…especially if they’re this iconic.’

Check out the post below.

So @virgilabloh & Henrik Most (a creative leader at IKEA Range and Supply) talked design philosophy last month at a workshop with @ikeatoday …specifically about elevating a chair design for their collab so it “feels more like an art object than a typical chair that serves its functions with four equal legs”. Well, that “typical chair” is actually an icon of mid-century design by Paul McCobb for his Planner Group series. Manufactured by Winchendon Furniture Company, it was among the best selling contemporary furniture lines of the 1950s and in production up until 1964…that is until Virgil decided to relaunch it and elevate it (quite literally) with an added doorstop lol. Tbh, we all get your approach by now, but it would actually be much more interesting to know the sources of your “inspiration”…especially if they’re this iconic. • #virgilabloh #ikea #paulmccobb #plannergroup #winchendon #furniture #midcentury #midcenturymodern #industrialdesign #american #ikeahack #offwhite #streetwear #streetstyle #hypebeast #hypebae #interiordesign #dietprada

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on May 29, 2018 at 12:03pm PDT