Wednesday 30 March 2016

Karim Rashid

“Why are we here on earth? To create! It's in our nature.” — Karim Rashid

Here is a designer who believes in a holistic approach to design, in which the sum of the parts can be more beautiful than the parts themselves.  Time magazine has described him as the “most famous industrial designer in all of America”. EXIN Magazine brings for you journey of interior and industrial designer Karim Rashid.
Born to an Egyptian father and an English mother in Cairo, Egypt, Rashid was raised in Canada and is now a US Citizen. He received a Bachelor of Industrial Design in 1982 from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He pursued graduate design studies in Naples, Italy. He then moved to Milan for one year at the Rodolfo Bonetto Studio. Rashid went on to work with KAN Industrial Designers in Canada. There he co-founded and designed the Babel Fashion Collection and North between 1985 and 1991. In 1992, Rashid opened a private design studio in New York City.
Throughout his career, he won several awards, including Daimler Chrysler 1999 Award; George Nelson Award 1999; The Silver IDEA Award, 1999 (OH Chair), The Brooklyn Museum of Art Designer of the Year, 1998; among others.

Rashid's award winning designs include democratic objects such as the Garbo waste can and Oh Chair for Umbra, bobble water bottle, interiors such as the Morimoto restaurant, Philadelphia and Semiramis hotel, Athens and exhibitions for Deutsche Bank and Audi. Rashid has collaborated with clients to create democratic design for Method and Dirt Devil, bikes for Biomega, furniture for Artemide and Magis, brand identity for Citibank and Hyundai, high tech products for LaCie and Samsung, and luxury goods for Veuve Clicquot, Swarovski and Kenzo, etc.
There is no distinction between high and low design for Rashid. He is equally at ease designing for mass-production companies as he is designing packaging and products for the Japanese fashion innovator Issey Miyake. In the end, according to Rashid, the goal of his designs is always the same — to provide a quality experience to the users of the objects.


He is renowned for wearing pink and white. Rashid married Ivana Rashid (née Puric) in 2008. Together they have one child, Kiva Rashid. 

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