Artist claims fashion brand Urban Revivo stole her work

These days artists have the technologically enhanced spectre of AI to worry about, but large language models aren't the only cause for allegations of copyright theft. An independent artist has taken to social media to accuse the expanding international fashion brand Urban Revivo of using her work without permission in its products.

Celine Ka Wing Lau is a Hong Kong-born illustrator now living in London. Her vibrant 2D illustrations appear daily alongside the The New York Times’ Strands Sidekick feature and have also featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Anorak Magazine.

Celine made a post on Instagram showing items of clothing sold by Urban Revivo that appear to feature images heavily inspired by her own illustrations. Specifically, designers appeared to have taken liberal inspiration from the artist's illustrations of a heart and a bird with skeletons way back in 2021.

The reworked versions appeared on items on the fashion retailer's site outside of their original context, which was intended as a reference to mental health issues.

People were quick to rally behind Celine's complaint, inundating the comments on Urban Revivo's Instagram posts with demands for an explanation and calls for a boycott of the clothing brand, which has over 400 stores in China and Southeast Asia as well as shops in New York and London.

Some also picked out similarities with more of Celine's work, while some artists lamented that the incident is not a rarity, claiming to have experienced similar situations themselves.

Urban Revivo responded by removing the relevant products from its website and by closing the comments on its Instagram account. Celine says she has since been contacted by the brand with an offer to resolve the issue privately.

Looking for inspiration for your own work? See our roundup of line art exercises and tutorials. Also see our feature What is concept art?