I’ve been to the small (outside of Copenhagen( glassblowers where Helle’s creations are made. It’s a one man band that makes her pieces overlooking the ocean in a small coastal village. I have mixed feelings about this all. Helle overcharges significantly for her designs. A copycat isn’t right either but given she isn’t even making the actual product yet charging a price that suggests so? I don’t know…
Well, it isn’t cheap to pay a craftsman to make your items by hand, especially in Denmark. Better than hearing that she has children in a third-world country working with molten glass!
From her bio at least it says that her designs are her own, so I’m hoping that’s true vs her claiming this cute old man’s designs as hers. Fair enough that she has help producing them, right? Even huge artists in the fine art world often do not produce their pieces totally by themselves, and some even outsource their designs to be fabricated by someone else entirely.
No def her designs but made significantly cheaper than the RRP. Agreed Denmark isn’t cheap to produce but judging by the price of ‘seconds’ I picked up she’s still making a killing! I never got onboard with her pricing from the start. It seems hugely overblown (no pun intended?) 🫠
I see, I see… the capitalist in me says to charge as much as the market allows! As long as she isn’t exploiting anyone in the process. What’s the scoop on getting the “seconds”? Are you willing to share the location? :)
I gasped when I saw the side by side (I recognized Helle’s Bon Bons immediately). Insane behavior to try and pass it off as something her daughter (toddler) came up with, how insulting !
First of all, I'm only here because I like your writing. I have no business thinking about skincare, brands, or cosmetics. I always want more comments on my posts so I'll put my money where my mouth is. I think they look the same. Some of the Glowery products look like formula bottles but the resemblance is borderline uncanny. Inspiration and stealing are closely related, however. I think the most unsatisfying rule about what is allowed and what isn't in a field that is dominated by subjectivity is how well it's done. If it's done with grace and style, then it's probably cool. St. Vincent's 'My Baby Wants a Baby' is a direct ripoff of Sheena Easton's 'Morning Train.' Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) didn't realize she was re-writing the hit til the song was partway done. Clark finished the song (it's great!) and gave songwriting credit to Florrie Palmer who wrote the Easton tune. Grace and style, right? The blocking by Glowery is both a bummer and tacit admission of guilt.
Thank you for writing this 🙏🏼 good point on the execution. Imitation isn’t the highest form of flattery when it’s not flattering. I like that Annie acknowledged it, too. (Also she’s an alum of my high school so I feel simpatico with her moves.) Even if Glowery dug their heels in to deny they were inspired, they should have at least acknowledged the resemblance instead of placing blame on Helle for supposedly knocking off Karim Rashid…
For real! But, just so you know, when you see a strikingly similar article to this one on my stack, I will not be giving you credit and you will be blocked. haha cheers!
I genuinely thought Glowery and Helle were collaborating when I saw those bottles - because who would dare to rip off something so unmistakably Helle? Turns out, not a collab, just a creative mirage. Helle’s Instagram post hit me hard, though. It’s not just about business - it’s about respecting the DNA of creativity. And blocking Helle instead of owning up? Well, that’s one way to dodge the accountability dance, I guess. This whole thing feels like a crash course in 'what not to do' in the world of design 💔
"Crash course in what not to do" is exactly why I wanted to write about this, but I am focused on the PR standpoint (I'll go into this more in part 2, it's wild). It's one thing to deny that Helle's designs inspired the packaging, but to not even acknowledge that they are strikingly similar seems even more disingenuous.
Hard yes. The foundfluencer is a fucking phenomenon in beauty these days. I really started to notice it a few years ago when I was working as a beauty editor on fashion mag and a certain brand spent huge advertising $$$ in exchange for personal profile opps on its founder – their house, their office space, a seat on panels, a listing in those cringe ‘power’ lists as an entrepreneur. They’ve since bought a heap of IG followers and they’re always front-and-centre, cosying up to the big-name celebs their brand pays to attend events. There are a lot that can build their profiles authentically as a founder, but this is a very particular beast. Excited for part two!
Foundfluencers aren't necessarily "bad," except for when they play in such an oversaturated category like beauty, create a ton of waste, and take up space from other founders and companies who are truly trying to create value and make a living. You're right that so much media today is pay-to-play. Forbes 30 under 30 is a great example—I know firsthand that companies campaign for their founders/employees to be on that list, it's not organically built by the editorial team going out and finding impactful people to feature based on merit.
Why didn't they just bring the artist in to consult in first place vs ripping off?? But then they probably didn't want to pay for her. This is just so blatant.
She probably would have declined because she has her own brand vs. a consulting practice... I bet she is approached regularly for collabs, and I doubt Glowery would have been one she’d ever consider. The outrage from the design community on this (if you read pt 2 it talks about this @designwithincopy Instagram post on this) is likely due to what you say: brands not wanting to pay designers, period. There are definitely a large number of founders and VC’s who constantly discourage investing in creative, sadly. They see it as frivolous because they have a dozen examples of successful brands to rattle off who shoot everything on their iPhone and made their logo in midjourney :/
Believe me, as fellow beauty marketing girlie, I get it. It's really irritating to me, as I enjoy when you can see a brand be thoughtful in their creative (ie- Crown Affair, Merit, Glossier esp when you were there).
Thank you <3 also just want to reiterate, a lot of the work I've done has been influenced by something else, for better and for worse. I remember loving the Felix Gonzalez-Torres piles of candy from seeing them at art museums growing up, but didn't understand the story behind them. I just had this striking visual memory of all this colorful wrapped candy in a mound in a corner of a room; so for one Glossier shoot where the theme was "buy multiples! they're on sale!", I piled a bunch of balm dotcoms in a corner in the same way. Now I try to be more sensitive about researching where a memory came from that I'm working off of, and sensitive in bringing a reference into the commercial realm. Even if I make a logo completely from scratch (not **me** but with my designers), I will reverse image search to make sure there isn't any accidental coincidences.
Damn. There are cockroaches everywhere but in my experience the creme eventually rises to the top. I hope Helle uses this experience to demonstrate the potential of her work to partner with an actual beauty company and makes a killing off the collab. That's her best move at this point and she needs to move fast too so that this fake play doh nonsense company with dirty bottles can fade into oblivion.
It seems like Helle sees copycats all the time, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. With the way Glowery is handling this (can't wait for you to read part 2), along with the other issues the brand has, I feel like Helle can happily move on and never think about them again. She just opened a new flagship store, so she is already on an upward trajectory.
I’ve been to the small (outside of Copenhagen( glassblowers where Helle’s creations are made. It’s a one man band that makes her pieces overlooking the ocean in a small coastal village. I have mixed feelings about this all. Helle overcharges significantly for her designs. A copycat isn’t right either but given she isn’t even making the actual product yet charging a price that suggests so? I don’t know…
Well, it isn’t cheap to pay a craftsman to make your items by hand, especially in Denmark. Better than hearing that she has children in a third-world country working with molten glass!
From her bio at least it says that her designs are her own, so I’m hoping that’s true vs her claiming this cute old man’s designs as hers. Fair enough that she has help producing them, right? Even huge artists in the fine art world often do not produce their pieces totally by themselves, and some even outsource their designs to be fabricated by someone else entirely.
No def her designs but made significantly cheaper than the RRP. Agreed Denmark isn’t cheap to produce but judging by the price of ‘seconds’ I picked up she’s still making a killing! I never got onboard with her pricing from the start. It seems hugely overblown (no pun intended?) 🫠
I see, I see… the capitalist in me says to charge as much as the market allows! As long as she isn’t exploiting anyone in the process. What’s the scoop on getting the “seconds”? Are you willing to share the location? :)
Hahah always! DM 👀 x
Fun fact: it’s also where they make NOMA’s bespoke glassware!
I gasped when I saw the side by side (I recognized Helle’s Bon Bons immediately). Insane behavior to try and pass it off as something her daughter (toddler) came up with, how insulting !
The way they dealt with this is indeed insane
First of all, I'm only here because I like your writing. I have no business thinking about skincare, brands, or cosmetics. I always want more comments on my posts so I'll put my money where my mouth is. I think they look the same. Some of the Glowery products look like formula bottles but the resemblance is borderline uncanny. Inspiration and stealing are closely related, however. I think the most unsatisfying rule about what is allowed and what isn't in a field that is dominated by subjectivity is how well it's done. If it's done with grace and style, then it's probably cool. St. Vincent's 'My Baby Wants a Baby' is a direct ripoff of Sheena Easton's 'Morning Train.' Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) didn't realize she was re-writing the hit til the song was partway done. Clark finished the song (it's great!) and gave songwriting credit to Florrie Palmer who wrote the Easton tune. Grace and style, right? The blocking by Glowery is both a bummer and tacit admission of guilt.
Thank you for writing this 🙏🏼 good point on the execution. Imitation isn’t the highest form of flattery when it’s not flattering. I like that Annie acknowledged it, too. (Also she’s an alum of my high school so I feel simpatico with her moves.) Even if Glowery dug their heels in to deny they were inspired, they should have at least acknowledged the resemblance instead of placing blame on Helle for supposedly knocking off Karim Rashid…
For real! But, just so you know, when you see a strikingly similar article to this one on my stack, I will not be giving you credit and you will be blocked. haha cheers!
Hahah as long as it’s well written
I genuinely thought Glowery and Helle were collaborating when I saw those bottles - because who would dare to rip off something so unmistakably Helle? Turns out, not a collab, just a creative mirage. Helle’s Instagram post hit me hard, though. It’s not just about business - it’s about respecting the DNA of creativity. And blocking Helle instead of owning up? Well, that’s one way to dodge the accountability dance, I guess. This whole thing feels like a crash course in 'what not to do' in the world of design 💔
"Crash course in what not to do" is exactly why I wanted to write about this, but I am focused on the PR standpoint (I'll go into this more in part 2, it's wild). It's one thing to deny that Helle's designs inspired the packaging, but to not even acknowledge that they are strikingly similar seems even more disingenuous.
Hard yes. The foundfluencer is a fucking phenomenon in beauty these days. I really started to notice it a few years ago when I was working as a beauty editor on fashion mag and a certain brand spent huge advertising $$$ in exchange for personal profile opps on its founder – their house, their office space, a seat on panels, a listing in those cringe ‘power’ lists as an entrepreneur. They’ve since bought a heap of IG followers and they’re always front-and-centre, cosying up to the big-name celebs their brand pays to attend events. There are a lot that can build their profiles authentically as a founder, but this is a very particular beast. Excited for part two!
Foundfluencers aren't necessarily "bad," except for when they play in such an oversaturated category like beauty, create a ton of waste, and take up space from other founders and companies who are truly trying to create value and make a living. You're right that so much media today is pay-to-play. Forbes 30 under 30 is a great example—I know firsthand that companies campaign for their founders/employees to be on that list, it's not organically built by the editorial team going out and finding impactful people to feature based on merit.
Why didn't they just bring the artist in to consult in first place vs ripping off?? But then they probably didn't want to pay for her. This is just so blatant.
She probably would have declined because she has her own brand vs. a consulting practice... I bet she is approached regularly for collabs, and I doubt Glowery would have been one she’d ever consider. The outrage from the design community on this (if you read pt 2 it talks about this @designwithincopy Instagram post on this) is likely due to what you say: brands not wanting to pay designers, period. There are definitely a large number of founders and VC’s who constantly discourage investing in creative, sadly. They see it as frivolous because they have a dozen examples of successful brands to rattle off who shoot everything on their iPhone and made their logo in midjourney :/
Believe me, as fellow beauty marketing girlie, I get it. It's really irritating to me, as I enjoy when you can see a brand be thoughtful in their creative (ie- Crown Affair, Merit, Glossier esp when you were there).
Thank you <3 also just want to reiterate, a lot of the work I've done has been influenced by something else, for better and for worse. I remember loving the Felix Gonzalez-Torres piles of candy from seeing them at art museums growing up, but didn't understand the story behind them. I just had this striking visual memory of all this colorful wrapped candy in a mound in a corner of a room; so for one Glossier shoot where the theme was "buy multiples! they're on sale!", I piled a bunch of balm dotcoms in a corner in the same way. Now I try to be more sensitive about researching where a memory came from that I'm working off of, and sensitive in bringing a reference into the commercial realm. Even if I make a logo completely from scratch (not **me** but with my designers), I will reverse image search to make sure there isn't any accidental coincidences.
Damn. There are cockroaches everywhere but in my experience the creme eventually rises to the top. I hope Helle uses this experience to demonstrate the potential of her work to partner with an actual beauty company and makes a killing off the collab. That's her best move at this point and she needs to move fast too so that this fake play doh nonsense company with dirty bottles can fade into oblivion.
It seems like Helle sees copycats all the time, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. With the way Glowery is handling this (can't wait for you to read part 2), along with the other issues the brand has, I feel like Helle can happily move on and never think about them again. She just opened a new flagship store, so she is already on an upward trajectory.