Karim Rashid

Karim Rashid

A contemporary designer with many design achievements

Karim Rashid is one of the most prolific and nonconformist designers and architects on the contemporary design scene. Born in Cairo in 1960 to an Egyptian father and an English mother, he grew up in an artistic and cosmopolitan environment spending a period between London and Ottawa where he graduated in Industrial Design at Carleton University in 1982. He specialized in Italy, between Naples and Milan, and finally he settled in New York, where he opened a studio in 1993. Sensitive to social issues and eco-sustainability, Rashid imagines an ideal future in which the products he designs are functional for everyone. His works are born from a futuristic and eccentric mood, in which color plays an essential role making the products very impactful. According to Rashid, pink has the same value as white. The style is characterized by pastel tones accompanied by combinations and glossy lacquered finishes. The artist prefers plastic and solid surfaces that can be colored mainly with soft shapes that distinguish his work.

Karim Rashid rise to success

Karim Rashid's career, now considered one of the 10 most influential designers in the world, began in 1996 with the Umbra Garbo trash can, made of molded plastic, whose shape was inspired by the movie star Greta Garbo. This is followed by the Oh Chair by Umbra (1999) and the colorful Kapsule Chair for children by Offi (2001). In the same period he collaborated on the interiors of the Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia and, in 2004, the Semiramis hotel in Athens. Since then, Rashid has designed many projects in the fields of interior design, architecture and fashion, art and graphics, music and packaging. His busy career also includes book publishing and exhibition design, for which he has received over 300 design awards. Among the many furnishings and accessories designed by Karim Rashid are the Cadmo 2006 lamp collections for Artemide; Cyborg 2015 for Martinelli Luce; Apex 2015 for Fontana Arte; Floob 2007 for Kundalini; the Murano glass collections for Purho. Among his main projects for the bathroom, the Enjoy and Amedeo 2015 collections for Ceramica Cielo and the Lap Plus washbasin for Glass Design 2020. Rashid has designed the Tide and Blend containers for Casamania & Horm; the transformable chaise longue Dragonfly for Bonaldo 2006; the Voxel collection for Vondom 2010; the Superblob seating system for Edra 2002; the Kant stools for Casamania 2006; Swell garden furniture for Talents 2009