copy cats

copy cats

a couple of weeks ago, i was getting my pinterest fix and i noticed someone i followed had pinned what looked like my bloomsbury fabric that had been screen printed with mushrooms and cats on top, stitched together with what i thought were completely separate panels of striped fabric. on closer inspection, it wasnt my fabric at all, but a copy - a printed panel fabric designed by mina koko for lecien fabrics in japan.

admittedly the flowers are ALL identical, but many of them are direct copies of mine
and the others are very definitely in the style of!
oh, and mine is on the left! click on photo to make bigger.

if you follow me on instagram, youll know this already, but i didnt make a massive fuss at the time despite my shock, because i felt lecien had the right to respond. well, i got in touch some weeks ago now and have emailed twice and it appears that either the email address ive got is redundant, or they are ignoring me. i know absolutely nothing about the designer of mina koko, in fact, very little info seems to be on google about them/her/him at all. lecien do have a twitter account, but its rarely used and the only contact on their website is a contact form. ive searched high and low but mina koko dont appear to do social media at all. if anyone has any contact information for either lecien or mina koko, id be hugely appreciative!

in a way i guess its flattering, and at the time i was hugely gobsmacked/angry/gutted/disappointed/hurt but ive had plenty of time to clam down but a little part of me is still rather outraged. i know that im only a little ol designer, but seriously, if theres one thing ive learnt over the last few years is that the quilting world is minuscule - how on earth did they think it would go unnoticed???! moda say they will back me if needs be, and that this sort of thing happens more often than youd think.

if youre interested, click through to the lecien website and see the other colourways (click on the cat closeup thumbnails) http://www.lecien.co.jp/en/hobby/minakoko/index.html (sorry, youll have to copy and paste, bloggers not letting me put in links today!)

copy cats