Karim Rashid

Industrial Design

Contents 8 sections +

Overview

Karim Rashid is a designer born in Cairo in 1960 and raised in Canada. He graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor's degree in industrial design in 1982 and later pursued design studies in Italy with Ettore Sottsass. After seven years at KAN Industrial Designers, he opened his own New York City studio in 1993. His work spans industrial design, interiors and fashion-related projects; more than 3,000 of his designs have been put into production, and his work is held in about 20 permanent collections.^1,2,3,4,5

At a glanceSourced facts

카림 라시드 — Plate I · Wikimedia CommonsIndustrial designer Karim Rashid pictured in New York, 2007bitboy · CC BY 2.0 · Commons

At a glance

Career and design philosophy

A Design Father interview described Rashid as having served for ten years as an associate professor of industrial design and later as a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences.⁶ Rashid has said that everyday objects can improve people's experiences, and that people touch an average of 600 objects a day.^1,6 He has described himself as more of an artist than a hard-core industrial designer.⁷

Notable works

Rashid designed the polypropylene Garbo wastebasket in 1996; The Guardian reported sales of more than two million.^1,8 The Garbo and its smaller version, the Garbino, were reported to remain in production twenty years after the Garbo's debut.⁸ Metropolis revisited the Garbo after twenty years in the context of changing environmental concerns about plastics.⁸

Umbra experimented with biodegradable plastic substitutes for the Garbo; a company representative said the initiative was withdrawn amid disagreement about the additive's effectiveness.⁸ For Peuterey's 2012–2013 autumn and winter season, Rashid collaborated on a limited-edition coat collection of 200 pieces featuring bright colors and striped designs.⁵ According to DesignWanted, rashid won the SIT Furniture Design Award for the Chelsea Collection with BoConcept and the Voxel chair with Vondom.²

Publications and recognition

Rashid published I Want to Change the World in 2001; The Guardian reported that its self-celebratory tone irritated some critics.^1,3 His books include Evolution, Design Your Self, KarimSpace, Sketch, From the Beginning and XX; the 2015 monograph XX presents selected work spanning twenty years.^3,4 Carleton University reports that more than 3,000 of Rashid's designs have been put into production, while Rashid has said he created at least 3,500 objects and about 100 interiors.^3,6 Carleton University reports that his work appears in about 20 permanent collections and galleries worldwide, including the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA and Centre Pompidou.^3,4

Other projects

According to Designers Martinelli Luce, rashid and architect Alex Hughes launched KURV Architecture D.P.C. in 2017.⁴ Rashid said he had completed about seven hotels and was working on five more at the time of an interview.⁶