Yet another example of why creatives, particularly those with something worth protecting, need to link up with good legal counsel early in their career - good lawyering might have prevented, or at least lessened, the damage here. This makes me a bit crazy - I hate to see outcomes like this.
Absolutely. I had a conversation with Victoria about this a few years ago, and she gave me the skinny on they fell for some backstabbery re: the business. I'm not sure how much is public, so I'll just let that hang in the air there. They got terrible advice, and it came back to bite them later. Neither Victoria nor Richard are any good at business at all, and my heart breaks for them. They were eaten alive.
Wow. Thank you for this. I'm sad to say that other than recognizing the Mad Hatter design, I didn't have any background on Richard and Victoria MacKenzie-Childs and their company until now. After reading this it's a wrench to see their designs all over Neiman Marcus, Williams-Sonoma and Wayfair in an online search. I had no idea. (But I've previously read a good deal about Pleasant Rowland and her takeover of Aurora, NY...) Good grief. What a cautionary tale and a tragedy for this couple and their lost IP.
My family used to live on an old, converted Chesapeake Bay oyster Buy-Boat in Florida. I think I'll take a stroll over to my Patreon account.
Not at all; in fact, it's all very gushy and tidy about Rowland now, long after the NYT and some other outlets wrote some fairly negative press about her dealings in Aurora in 2007. She must have an excellent PR firm, because you really have to scroll & squint to find anything about her taking a wrecking ball to the MacKenzie-Childs.
That's... terrifying.
Half here for the art, half here for the business advice, I swear.
Yet another example of why creatives, particularly those with something worth protecting, need to link up with good legal counsel early in their career - good lawyering might have prevented, or at least lessened, the damage here. This makes me a bit crazy - I hate to see outcomes like this.
Absolutely. I had a conversation with Victoria about this a few years ago, and she gave me the skinny on they fell for some backstabbery re: the business. I'm not sure how much is public, so I'll just let that hang in the air there. They got terrible advice, and it came back to bite them later. Neither Victoria nor Richard are any good at business at all, and my heart breaks for them. They were eaten alive.
Wow. Thank you for this. I'm sad to say that other than recognizing the Mad Hatter design, I didn't have any background on Richard and Victoria MacKenzie-Childs and their company until now. After reading this it's a wrench to see their designs all over Neiman Marcus, Williams-Sonoma and Wayfair in an online search. I had no idea. (But I've previously read a good deal about Pleasant Rowland and her takeover of Aurora, NY...) Good grief. What a cautionary tale and a tragedy for this couple and their lost IP.
My family used to live on an old, converted Chesapeake Bay oyster Buy-Boat in Florida. I think I'll take a stroll over to my Patreon account.
All of the articles blindly praising Rowland make no mention of the damage to Victoria and Richard.
Not at all; in fact, it's all very gushy and tidy about Rowland now, long after the NYT and some other outlets wrote some fairly negative press about her dealings in Aurora in 2007. She must have an excellent PR firm, because you really have to scroll & squint to find anything about her taking a wrecking ball to the MacKenzie-Childs.
I’m going to make a cartoon on this “predatory publisher”.
What a nightmare and a tragedy at once.
Waaaaaaaah.