Where do your ideas come from for projects

J

John Beauchamp

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Dec 15, 2014
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I have always just looked around at magazines, books and the things around me. When I see something I like I copy it as is or modify it to suit myself. I have done this for myself and also for pay. After reading some discussion on Tim's MFTC thread about intellectual property, I now wonder where the line is between right and wrong. I'm not concerned about the law just the right of things. Legality is determined by the best lawyer. [tongue] [tongue] One of the respondents, who appears to have some knowledge of these things was condemning the fellow who is selling a revised plan but in another thread said he liked a project someone posted pictures of and was going to copy it. I'm not faulting him at all I'm just confused on this issue. Anybody want to help?
 
I'll be first one to chime in.  Seeing something in a magazine or a book or the internet that is offered for free and then you use it for your own personal use isn't usually an issue.  There isn't a way in the world that this type of usage can be policed if done in private. But when something is then offered for sale that changes matter.

Absolutely nothing wrong with being inspired by images you've seen in magazines, books, tv, .net, etc.

Peter
 
Some authors state and encourage in their book(s) to copy theie design, modify it, even sell any you make based off of their design. 

The majority of authors though give you the rights to reproduce said piece of furniture, but state you shouldn't produce to sale said item based on their design.

I think the majority of folks look at books or magazines for design inspiration, and often use the plans to gain a better understanding of tools and techniques.....
 
I can honestly say, out of my 20 years of wood working, I have only built 2 project to plans found in a magazine.

I will use the authors plans to get ideas as to how to build something similar but different.

Case in point, the paper towel holder.  I saw something in a mag and thought that's a cool idea. But I don't like how he did this or that and I can get the same thing by doing this or that..d
Ended up with a paper towel holder that doesn't really look at the designers at all.

One of the projects I copied ,was a display shelf from a book called "country pine" The author made the book to give plans with dimensions for people to use. That was the purpose of the book I used his dimensions but then it eventually evolved to something that is simular but different. I did that 18 years or so ago.
 
Spanish writer Eugeni D'Ors said: "What is not plagiarism is tradition" ("Lo que no es plagio es tradición")
 
jobsworth said:
I can honestly say, out of my 20 years of wood working, I have only built 2 project to plans found in a magazine.

I will use the authors plans to get ideas as to how to build something similar but different.

Case in point, the paper towel holder.  I saw something in a mag and thought that's a cool idea. But I don't like how he did this or that and I can get the same thing by doing this or that..
Ended up with a paper towel holder that doesn't really look at the designers at all.
Click to expand...

And I, in turn, was inspired by yours...and built mine a bit differently. I too made mine to meet the needs of my family, but used yours as the basis upon which to design mine with obvious differences. Not plagiarism...but inspiration! [smile]

Frank
 
i felt very happy that you thought enough of it to want to copy it. I'm taking some of your ideas and using it on some future ones I'm gonna build, like using the Zobo bits and raising the lower shelf for example.

i get mine from various country design magaznes. Someone made a towel holder and I liked the idea and came up with my own design that doesn't look anything like his.
 
I have been inspired by craftsmen that publish their work and I even attended a weekend workshop where the instructor encouraged  us to build what he had designed (Sam Maloof).

I have constructed for my own and my families use designs read about in Fine WoodWorking magazine and have published those projects on their web site acknowledging the authors design and attached pictures of construction methods used that were different.

Work I sell is my own designs but in some cases a chest of drawers or dining room table can only be embelished so many different ways over the ages since the first Chinese used hand planes back around 2000 BC.

I also get a loot of feedback from my customers that have a general notion of what they want and ask to have designs modified.
 
I'd really like to say that the ideas come from within my own mind....but even then I'm influenced to some degree whether or not i realize it by things i've previously seen.  i have several "Original" ideas that I have built that i will reproduce for sale as "MY" designs, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that I'm not inspired by others work.  The only way I think a design can be really original is if it's something that has never existed.  any chair made today is in some way a copy of the very first chair ever created.....$.02
 
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