View of the exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1975
Courtesy: Po Shun Leong Archive.
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Dear Karin:
I was one of the designers from IMCE who helped install the original 1975 Exposicion Retrospectiva y Prospectiva de Diseno Mexicano and at the same time was honored to show my fiberglass and wood designs at the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1975 and especially next to the great Don Shoemaker’s famous chair. (See photo)
At that time, modern forward -looking furniture design was beginning to take hold in Mexico. We were in a movement that involved designers who created new products with the backing of organizations such as IMCE (Instituto Mexicano de Comercio Exterior) and the Mexico Museum of Modern Art.
I was saddened to hear that the current Don S, Shoemaker exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno does not reach such highs with respect to original pieces and that dubious items also found a place in this show.
Many designers including myself have suffered the fate of others stealing our original ideas and manufacturing them in other countries. It goes on all the time. Fortunately nowadays we can combat this type of theft by using the services of such organizations like ACID (Anti Copying in Design) to remove website information in China against a manufacturer that has been advertising my designs including the misappropriation and use of my name.
With Don’s works, there have been many copies, some admittedly almost as good as originals but many more just bad. This time there is more pain to know that certain designs attributed to Don as originals in this show are not of his creation.
Don S. Shoemaker Furniture Designs 
Dear Karin:
I was one of the designers from IMCE who helped install the original 1975 Exposicion Retrospectiva y Prospectiva de Diseno Mexicano and at the same time was honored to show my fiberglass and wood designs at the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1975 and especially next to the great Don Shoemaker’s famous chair. (See photo)
At that time, modern forward -looking furniture design was beginning to take hold in Mexico. We were in a movement that involved designers who created new products with the backing of organizations such as IMCE (Instituto Mexicano de Comercio Exterior) and the Mexico Museum of Modern Art.
I was saddened to hear that the current Don S, Shoemaker exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno does not reach such highs with respect to original pieces and that dubious items also found a place in this show.
Many designers including myself have suffered the fate of others stealing our original ideas and manufacturing them in other countries. It goes on all the time. Fortunately nowadays we can combat this type of theft by using the services of such organizations like ACID (Anti Copying in Design) to remove website information in China against a manufacturer that has been advertising my designs including the misappropriation and use of my name.
With Don’s works, there have been many copies, some admittedly almost as good as originals but many more just bad. This time there is more pain to know that certain designs attributed to Don as originals in this show are not of his creation.
Best wishes,
Po Shun Leong
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