Influencer Janne Naakka claims that Kesko copied his interior design products.
Janne Naakka claims that Kesko has plagiarized his candlestick. Miia Sirén
Social media influencer and entrepreneur Janne Naakka published a video containing harsh words on his social media channels. In the video, Naakka asks if the Finnish trading company Kesko has plagiarized, i.e. copied, the candlestick of her NaaGLiving interior design brand.
Naakka claims that the Donitsi candlestick of the Cello brand sold in K-raudo was copied from his own brand Donitsi candlestick. In her social media video, Naakka goes through the similarities of the products. The products have the same name, size, appearance and color selection. According to Naaka, there is also a lot of similarity in the product and sales pictures.
The 6.5-centimeter-high candle sold at K-Rauda costs 6.95 euros, while the NaagLiving candlestick costs 45 euros without discount.
Naaka’s product is intended for genuine twinkling candles, while the K-rauta Cello brand candlestick has a ready-made LED candle.
– Our product was released in July, and at that time I filmed videos that reached over 100,000 views, in which I told that we sold the first color in an hour and the second the same evening.
– Kesko’s product was apparently released at the end of September. Three months is probably enough time for the Chinese factory to manufacture the product based on the pictures or even the “model product” sent there.
The K group is responsible
Iltalehti reached K-Rauda’s product group manager Outi Lehton to comment on the matter by e-mail.
– As far as we understand, the NaagLiving Donutsi candle holder has gone on sale in July 2024. K-Rauta has already ordered its own led candle from the factory that manufactures it in February 2024. Naturally, we were therefore not aware of NaagLiving’s product when we placed our own order. We got to know the LED candle model for the first time already in the fall of 2023 when the supplier presented his candle collection to K-Rauda, commented Lehto.
– The led candle was named Donits by K-Rauda in December 2023, when the product was established in our system. The name for the led candle was chosen purely based on the appearance of the led candle, the product group manager answers.
The Instagram account of the K group managed by Kesko has responded to the incident in the comment field of the video published by Naaka on Monday. The comment is the same as the email comment sent to Iltalehte.
The story continues after the pictures.
This is what Kesko’s Donitsi candle looks like. Screenshot from K-rauta website
This is what a NaaGLiving brand candle looks like. Miia Sirén
Naakka responded late on Monday evening to K-group’s comment. He is not satisfied with Kesko’s communication on the subject. Naakka says that he sent an email to Kesko about this a week ago, but according to what he said, he has not received a reply. Naakka says in the comments that he is still waiting for an email from Kesko.
– Your answer would have been more convincing if it had come to my email, but I got a public answer when there was public pressure to answer, Naakka writes to Kesko.
– We thought the answer would be something like this, where, among other things, the same shape of the product, the details of the shape, the same height to every millimeter, three different product heights, different color options, similar style product images and the same name are explained by chance. This is how it is unfortunately often done in these cases, he continues.
– A design language similar to our products is currently on the surface worldwide, and for that reason it is rare that the most similar product is released in a country the size of Finland three months after our launch. The finished drawings of our product have gone to our production partner in 2022 and the idea for the product was born naturally before this, Naakka describes.
Naakka points out in the video that his brand is not the only one that has made round candlesticks. Among other things, the Swedish clothing chain Gina Tricot has made round candlesticks.
Several commentators point out to Naaka that Laura Väre, who was chosen as young designer of the year in 2019, published the Donut candlestick already in 2019. Yle has written an article on the subject in the same year.
Be the first to report on it Ilta-Sanomat.