Designing the 21st Century with Form Portfolios

Have you ever asked yourself what is the life span of furniture copyright? Whether design objects are protected intellectual property? As the market becomes flooded with copies and fakes, and the web is filled with design masterpieces of the past, poorly produced and sold inexpensively, this question has become more and more relevant.

Mark Masiello knows the answer. He has turned his expertise in the music world to design. Whereas in the music sector, publishers typically manage copyrights and royalty, and by that helping musicians to protect their work, designers have been left generally unprotected. Mark founded a company called Form Portfolios. Its mission is to preserve, guard, and advance furniture through licensed reeditions. His passion for design has brought him to revisit legacies of the past, and to breathe new life into their work. To provide advisory that gives designers what musicians have. I spoke to him in the podcast Desgining the 21st Century.

Paul McCobb, Shovel Chair, awarded by MoMA and in the permanent collection of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Bodil Kjær, work desk with floating top on a slim base.
 
A Paul McCobb, Floor Lamp in brass and enameled aluminum.
Jens Rosom, Big Chair, Large scaled armchair with footstool.
Jens Risom, C140 chair, which appeared in the July 1961 issue of Playboy Magazine. Later, American President Lyndon B. Johnson signed one of the most important laws in American history; The Civil Rights Agreement while seated in the chair.