Legendary luxury brands of designer clothing, accessories, jewellery, and fragrance; works of art, but also everyday life objects like toys, sports shoes, small electrical appliances, books and even home cleaning supplies – the museum exhibits all of this in the form of pairs that juxtapose counterfeit and original.
The Counterfeit Museum was created in 1951 during the presidency of Gaston-Louis Vuitton by the Union of Manufacturers (Union des Fabricants, Unifab) for educational purposes. As the grandson of the infamous brand’s creator, he was well-aware how challenging it is to inform the largest possible number of users on the damage done by counterfeits. The idea of establishing a museum offered a double benefit as it allowed for the huge collection of confiscated goods to be put into use and gave it a purpose as an educational tool. The building where the collection resides is a copy of a 17th century mansion that was situated in the Mares neighbourhood.
Extraordinary, educational, fun, surprising, and even disturbing, the museum’s collection is constantly growing along with the phenomenal circulation of counterfeits. It is not an easy task to exhibit counterfeit products in a museum – least because they are illegal. Usually, the goods are confiscated by customs officials, police, or military officers, so they are procedurally a subject to destruction. The original objects were donated to the museum directly by the enterprises, most of which are members of the Union of Manufacturers.
Today, the museum exhibits over 500 pieces and covers all aspects in the processes of falsifying and protection of intellectual property.
Source: https://musee-contrefacon.com/
Photos: https://www.surla2.fr/, wikipedia.org
