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Arab Americans

Karim Rashid

Karim Rashid

Karim Rashid is an industrial designer and interior architect.[1] His designs include luxury goods, furniture, lighting, surface design, brand identity and packaging.[2] Time magazine has described him as the “most famous industrial designer in all the Americas”.[3]

Career

Rashid was born in CairoEgypt to an Egyptian father and English mother,[citation needed] and raised in Canada and is now a US Citizen.[4]

Rashid’s designs include the Garbo waste can, the Oh Chair for Umbra, a concept store for Giorgio Armanimanhole coversfor the sewers of New York, perfume bottles for Kenzobobble water bobble, watches and tableware for Alessi, lighting for Artemide and products for Veuve Clicquot.[4][5]

His work, all sensual curves and bright colours, is instantly recognizable and has been variously described (by Rashid himself) as “sensual minimalism” and “blobjects“.[6]

Karim has recently been selected to design several real estate developments in New York City for HAP Investments, a New York City based International investment group.[7]

Karim’s work is featured in 20 permanent collections and he exhibits art in galleries world wide including the MoMACentre Pompidou, and SFMOMA. He holds honorary doctorates from the Ontario College of Art & DesignPratt Institute and Corcoran College of Art & Design. Karim is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences speaking about the importance of design in everyday life.[8]

In 2012, Danish designer and manufacturer BoConcept collaborated with Rashid to create the Ottawa Collection, which won the Red Dot Design Award.[1]

Awards and honors

Rashid has won the George Nelson Award in 1999, the Canadian Designer of the Year award in 2001,[3] and the Red Dot Design Award in 2012.[1]

Personal life

Karim was formerly married to digital designer Megan Lang, but the couple divorced. Rashid married Ivana Rashid (née Puric) in 2008. Together they have one child, Kiva Rashid.[9]

Rashid is brother to famed architect, Hani Rashid, of Asymptote.[10]

Karim is known for wearing all white or all pink clothing.[11]

Publications

  • 2014 Karim Rashid: From the Beginning
  • 2013 Karim Rashid – Ideologija ljepote Tihomir Milovac. (in Croatian). Zagreb: Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti, 2013
  • 2012 I Protagonisti del Design: Karim Rashid. Milan: Hachette, 2012
  • 2012 Sketch: Karim
  • 2009 Karim Rashid Space: The Architecture Of Karim Rashid
  • 2006 Design Your Self: Rethinking the Way You Live, Love, Work, and Play
  • 2005 I Want To Change The World
  • 2005 Digipop
  • 2004 Karim Rashid: Evolution New York, NY: Universe, 2004. ISBN 978-0789311979
  • 2004 Karim Rashid. San Francisco: * Marisa Bartolucci, Raul Cabra. Karim Rashid. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, ISBN 9780811842082
  • 2003 International Design Yearbook 18
  • 2001 I Want to Change the World. New York, NY: Universe Rizzoli, 2001. ISBN 978-0789305312

References

  1. Jump up to:a b c Susan Thurston (April 17, 2013). BoConcept furniture, Smart car join handsTampa Bay Times. Accessed October 2013.
  2. Jump up^ Velocci, Cristina. “Office tour: Karim Rashid”http://www.timeout.com.
  3. Jump up to:a b Belinda Luscombe (July 02, 2001). Design: The Poet Of Plastic; Karim Rashid wants to change the world one ordinary object at a timeTime Magazine. Accessed October 2013. (subscription required) for full article.
  4. Jump up to:a b Caroline Ryder ([n.d.]). Karim RashidSwindle. Archived March 7, 2009.
  5. Jump up^ KenzoAmour Product Page at kenzousa.com
  6. Jump up^ Fairs, Marcus. “I want to change the world”http://www.theguardian.com/.
  7. Jump up^ Bernstein, Fred A. “Karim Rashid Brings Kool-Aid Colors and Curves to Manhattan Condo Buildings”http://archrecord.construction.com/. McGraw Hill Financial.
  8. Jump up^ Stone, Andrew. “10 Questions with…Karim Rashid”Interiordesign.net. Sandow.
  9. Jump up^ cityfile. “Karim Rashid”gawker.com.
  10. Jump up^ “Designboom”http://www.designboom.com/.
  11. Jump up^ Goddard, Joanna. “One Is the Loveliest Color”http://nymag.com/. New York Media LLC.