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Page 36
36INTERIOR DECORATING
form of turning over actual designs from one man to another, and having the designs of the one, which may have been ably and artistically conceived, executed in a makeshift and improper fashion by another. This is a very evil condition and one that it is very difficult indeed to overcome. But sooner or late? some action must be taken by the decorators and designers of the country toward fighting this gross misappropriation of their property, and, if necessary, suitable laws will have to be enacted, such as exist in certain European countries, to prevent the public from taking advantage of artists' highly valuable work.
I would not have it supposed that I believe that because a piece of furniture has been designed and executed by one man, all other men in the field should forever leave this kind of piece untouched. This is against the very nature of the work,-for all decorators go back to the same original models and receive their inspiration from the same sources, and it can scarcely be considered that one single bit of decoration executed today is really of unparalleled originality, and in that sense the sole property of the designer. Some one has said with regard to literary art that an idea belongs to him who uses it best, and the same thing applies to decoration. All designers of all ages have copied from their predecessors and their contemporaries, but there will be no difficulty in drawing the line between the adaptation of a thing after it has become clarified by the feeling of the one who redesigns it, and the simple stealing of designs from the other man by means of exact reproduction.
Still another process indulged in by some of the
Page 36a
A bedroom suite in green enamel with carved ornamentation in gold and inset Wedgwood porcelain medallions, the style of the Brothers Adam,
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