Does this look familiar?
It should!!! Pottery Barn’s newest chandelier looks an awful lot like our canning jar creation, which we unveiled months ago!
Now, what are the possibilities that with all the publicity our shining chandy got (it has been featured on tons of blogs all over the world!), some Pottery Barn employee stole our idea and is cashing in on some major dough? Who knows. . . but we are sure wishing we would have got a copy-write on our original idea!!!
I guess we can at least take heart in the fact that some of our crazy ideas ARE liked by the masses. Nope, still hurts!
So funny that you say that Kara. I was just looking at my Pottery Barn catalog the other day thinking, “I know I’ve seen this somewhere before!” It’s the highest form of flattery, so they say.
Ugh, in an interview a while back I heard P!nk say “They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but really, it’s just annoying”. Yours looks way better… theirs is kinda sparse and lame.
no doubt PB saw your awesome lights due to their popularity- but this idea has been around a while –
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/06/diy-project-whitneys-mason-jar-lights.html
Aw, so sorry, Kara! That would REALLY frustrate me too, but know that there are now hundreds of people looking at their catalog and saying, “they totally stole that idea from her!” I will always remember where I saw it first. 🙂
this was my first thought when i opened my new catalog!
That is such a flattering bummer. I had seen your room featured on YHL and fell in love with your Mason jar light fixture. I dare say though that yours is vastly superior to PB because of the variety in shapes, sizes and bulb usage!
Thanks for all the consoling ladies. 🙂 I really appreciate it!
Hi Kara,
I go to church with Tim’s parents. 🙂 Mike gave me your blog address a while back and I’ve been reading it ever since. I love seeing all the cool things you do.
I understand your frustration, and I think your light fixture is beautiful… but… it’s kind-of like when I had the most perfect uncommon name picked out for my future child (who was yet to be conceived) and then my pregnant friend told me what she was naming her baby, and guess what? It was the name I wanted. Trends develop and breathe and move, and things often show up in more than one place when you wouldn’t expect it. So, while someone from PB might have seen your work and copied it, it’s also possible that the same great idea came to more than one person around the same time. If so, then I think maybe you can see the PB product as an affirmation that you are doing well at what you do, and that you’re really in tune with the current trends, which I think is one of the things that makes you a good designer. 🙂
LOVED your original. Personally I think yours had more character. If they copied the idea that’s really sad. They should’ve hired you if they needed someone to come up with some fresh new ideas. They’d have probably gained plenty more where this came from. Love your blog by the way.
I saw this and thought of you as well. If it makes you feel any better, I have seen a canning jars used in lighting fixtures before (check this one out from an anthropologie display 2 years ago: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/how-to/mason-jar-pendant-lamps-053890). So PB probably stole it from them rather than you. But I still love your version a hell of a lot better.
I’ve been seeing the Ball jars used as pendant lights for a few years now, but yours was the first I’ve ever seen as a chandalier. Great minds think alike, just keep that in mind! 🙂 Great job with the blog…love checking it every few days for new posts!
Too funny! My boyfriend and I did a PB style wine bottle chandelier and at only $50 for our homemade version I think ours turned out pretty sweet! I love your chandelier and think that is SUCH a creative idea!
Found you via Young House Love a while back, but I’m still dropping in!
Check out our chandelier here:
http://thathouseonthecorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Wine%20Bottle%20Chandelier
xoxo,
Caitlin @ That House on the Corner