Karim Rashid is redesigning the world we live in one design at a time - or, perhaps more accurately, thousands of objects at a time. As one of the most prolific designers of his generation, Rashid is largely credited with bringing design to the masses. His bestselling 'Oh Chair' and 'Garbo' rubbish bin brought the supple curves and bright colours of high design into millions of living rooms and offices around the world. In this book, Rashid explains his varied approach to design (and life) through evocative, thought-provoking essays and lush, full-colour treatments of his latest designs. This book illustrates how Rashid has helped popularize design and made it accessible to a wider audience. From fragrance bottles to cyber-couture fashion, his designs embrace the present and look forward to the future, imagining how design can make life better, easier and more enjoyable. Comfort and pleasure are part of the consumer experience and Rashid relishes his responsibility to satisfy these needs. The products contained within are all new designs and are represented through photographs, drawings and photo-realistic renderings showing the final products, many published for the first time in book form. The photographs are often paired with never-before-seen sketches from the designer's personal sketchbooks and illuminate Rashid's design process.
Karim Rashid is one of the most prolific designers of his generation. Over 3000 designs in production, over 300 awards and working in over 35 countries attest to Karim's legend of design. His award winning designs include democratic objects such as the ubiquitous Garbo waste can and Oh Chair for Umbra, interiors such as the Morimoto restaurant, Philadelphia and Semiramis hotel, Athens and exhibitions for Deutsche Bank and Audi. Karim has collaborated with clients to create democratic design for Method and Dirt Devil, furniture for Artemide and Magis, brand identity for Citibank and Hyundai, high tech products for LaCie and Samsung, and luxury goods for Veuve Clicquot and Swarovski, to name a few. Karim's work is featured in 20 permanent collections and he exhibits art in galleries world wide. Karim is a perennial winner of the Red Dot award, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design award, I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, IDSA Industrial Design Excellence award.
He holds honorary doctorates from the Ontario college of Art & Design and Corcoran College of Art & Design. Karim is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally disseminating the importance of design in everyday life. Karim's has been featured in magazine 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). In his spare time Karim's pluralism flirts with DJing, art and fashion and is determined to creatively touch every aspect of our physical landscape.
