Scoop: Designer Spotlight
Karim Rashid
Karim Rashid is one of the most prolific designers of his generation. He has over 3,000 designs in production, has received more than 300 awards and has worked in over 35 countries. Karim’s diversity affords him the ability to cross-pollinate ideas, materials, behaviors and aesthetics from one typology to the next, crossing boundaries and broadening consumer horizons.
PAST SPOTLIGHTS:
Karim is the designer of several Nienkamper products carried by Source Four including Kloud, Pyramide, Isola 8, Blob and Wavelength.
Industry Recognition
Karim’s work is featured in 20 permanent collections as well as in exhibits at art galleries across the globe. Karim is a perennial winner of the Red Dot award, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design award, I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review award and IDSA Industrial Design Excellence award. He holds honorary doctorates from the Ontario College of Art & Design and Corcoran College of Art & Design. 2007 highlighted Karim’s largest retrospective to date at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Most recently, Karim curated the exhibition “Totally Rad: Karim Rashid does Radiators” for the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. Karim is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally disseminating the importance of design in everyday life.
Recent Publications
Karim has been featured in magazines and books including Time, Financial Times, NY Times, Esquire, GQ and countless more. In 2009, Rizzoli released Karim’s latest monograph, KarimSpace, featuring 36 of Karim’s interior architecture designs. Other books include Karim’s guide to living, Design Your Self (Harper Collins, 2006); Digipop, a digital exploration of computer graphics (Taschen, 2005); Compact Portfolio published by Chronicle Books (2004); as well as two monographs titled Evolution (Universe, 2004) and I Want to Change the World (Rizzoli, 2001).
Questions
Who would you say is the most influential designer or architect in your career?
There are too many to mention. I think many pieces of design were fundamentally inspired by the curved wood chairs of Summers and Alto; the organic experiments of Luigi Colani, Frederick Kiesler, Sarranin, Niemeyer and Noguchi; the frugal, smart, efficient design of Eames, Nelson and Niels Diffrient; the ecological designer Victor Papanek; the brand eloquence of Lowey; the reductiveness of Braun and Dieter Rams; the radical experiments of the Italians of the sixties such as Bellini, Mendini, super studio, Gaetano Pesce, Joe Columbo and Andrea Branzi; the technological socialism of Buckminster Fuller; I could go on and on...
What is your favorite piece of furniture?
If it is a stacking chair, I must mention the OH chair because it has sold over one million pieces in eight years. We are now making a version in biodegradable plastic like the Garbino. I also love the polycarbonate Poly chair I designed for Bonaldo. It is one of the strongest plastic chairs in the world and received a 5 out of 5 rating in Sesta tests (Italian) and BIFMA tests. It is lightweight, transparent and relatively scratch resistant. For lounging I like the Koochy couch by Zanotta which I sit in every night in my living room.
What is the most fun you have had in this industry?
Lecturing and launch events in cities that know how to party like Monterrey, Moscow, Belgrade, Sao Paolo, Tel Aviv, Bratislava, Kiev, Bogotá, Santiago and Milano. I had 2,000 people show up at my lecture in Mexico and then a party afterwards that went on until 5 a.m. with about 3,000 people and a phenomenal amount of Tequila #@*!
What is your favorite indulgence?
Dark chocolate, a strong latte from 9th Street Coffee in Chelsea, working out 5-6 days a week if possible, flying first class, writing design rebuttals, sketching and lots of sleep (when I can).
What is something you cannot live without?
My wife, Ivana.
What CD is in your car right now?
I am more interested with single songs than CDs. I think the mp3 generation is now singles’ driven. I don’t even have a CD player in my car, only a built-in iPod dock. My top 10 play list right now is:
Chromatics, “I Want Your love”
Whitest Boy Alive, “Golden Cage”
The (Hypothetical) Prophets, “Person to Person”
Cut Copy, “Lights and Music”
Peter, Bjorn and John, “Young Folks”
Hercules and Love Affair, “Blind 12 Mix Ministry” and “Work for Love”
The Presets, “This Boy’s in Love”
Crystal Castles, “Crimewave” (Crystal Castles VS Health)
MSTRKRFT, “Easy Love”
Chromeo, “Bonafied Lovin” (Yuksek remix)
Röyksopp, “The Girl and The Robot”
