Artist's work 'plagiarised'

Kirsty Wither thought she had agreed an exclusive deal with Ikea

A Scottish artist is taking legal action after some of her pictures were sold by a chain of art shops without her permission, and without acknowledging her as the artist.

Kirsty Wither, who works in an art studio in Brighton, was pleased when the designer chain Ikea agreed to sell some of her landscapes as greetings cards in what she thought was an exclusive deal.

However, another chain of shops started buying her work from Ikea and selling it as their own.

One of her cards turned up in a different store, called Art, which has a chain of 55 shops across the country.

Extra touches

Her picture had been slightly altered and set in frames with her name scrubbed out and Ikea's name hidden from view.

On some, another name had been added instead.

There was also a price difference - cards from Ikea were being sold at 40p each, while Art was selling them framed for £20.

Kirsty Wither described the incident as "absolutely disgraceful".

"You work so hard, for so many years, building up any kind of reputation or trying to produce good work, and then suddenly someone slips in from the sideline and cheapens it, and calls it their own and it's absolutely scandalous," she said.

The managing director of Art, Brian O'Sullivan, has now ordered all stores to remove the prints.

He said there had been no intention of harming Kirsty Wither's reputation.