Kim Kardashian's name is in the design news cycle once again after the Donald Judd Foundation filed suit recently against her company SKKN BY KIM in which it claims she falsely stated furnishings made by a company called Clements Design were the original works of the artist, who died in 1994.
The New York Times and TMZ are reporting on the lawsuit this week, which stems from a YouTube video tour of the makeup company's California offices that was uploaded in 2022.
The suit claims Kardashian unwittingly made damaging comments that could mislead consumers into believing the celebrity skincare mogul was endorsing the Judd Foundation (she and her ex-husband are, after all, both outspoken proponents of Judd and other minimalist icons like James Turrell).
The Foundation said they expressly forbid the use of their designs for marketing purposes. Kim’s team took down the two-year-old video and claims they contacted them contritely before negotiations broke down and the suit was filed. Clements Design maintains they did not intentionally copy any of Judd's designs for their furniture, adding that there are "obvious key differences" between the tables.
"It is lower quality than Donald Judd’s furniture," Megan Bannigan, a lawyer representing the foundation, told the Times. "We don’t want to be mixed up with Kim Kardashian. We respect what she does, but we don’t want to be involved with this."
Clements Design told TMZ: "The Judd Foundation’s prior counsel acknowledged these differences and since then, we have not heard from them in over a year, and are now being blindsided with a lawsuit. Efforts were made to resolve this issue amicably at the time, and the Judd Foundation was unwilling to settle on reasonable terms. These claims have absolutely no merit."
Meanwhile, plans for a pair of post-divorce dream homes are in the works from Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma.
2 Comments
"Clements Design maintains they did not intentionally copy any of Judd's designs for their furniture, adding that there are "obvious key differences" between the tables"
In another article I saw a receipt for a table "in the style of Donald Judd" for this project. Of course with AI or even good photoshop LOL who knows what is real anymore.
I think the problem here is Judd's furniture was never that great to begin with and hasn't exactly aged timelessly, then you make a bad copy of it and add in some vapid celebrities.
Had a design director when I was just a wee design architect/ PA directing me to make some reception desks and transaction desks in a super high end office lobby into Donald Judd ripoffs. Railroaded him off the project via corporate Machiavellianism and happy to have done so it's one of my best small projects.
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