david weaver
...that George Wilson often says.

Except George can design. But he recognizes bad design quickly because of that, and his suggestion is the same - if you can't design, you should copy pleasing design.

The other thing that isn't often said about design is that it requires a trained eye. I you take a silversmith and you ask them to design furniture, it will end up taking on a bunch of characteristics of silver pieces.

Tools that I have made is not a dead copy of anything necessarily, but I readily take proportions and elements off of good copies.