Karim Rashid (in Arabic كريم رشيد) (born in Cairo, Egypt on September 18, 1960) is an industrial designer. He received a Bachelor in Industrial Design from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada in 1982 and completed his postgraduate studies in Italy. Rashid has created over 3000 designs, including projects ranging from interiors, fashion, furniture, lighting, art and music to installations.[1]
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Born in Cairo to Egyptian and English parents, and raised in Canada, Karim now resides in New York managing his private design studio. To date he has had some 3000 objects put into production and has successfully entered the realm of architecture and interiors, designing the Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia and Semiramis Hotel in Athens. His work is in the permanent collections of fourteen museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and he exhibits art in various galleries. Rashid was an associate Professor of Industrial Design for 10 years and is now a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally.
Rashid's award winning designs include democratic objects such as the Garbo waste can and Oh Chair for Umbra, bobble water bottle, interiors such as the Morimoto restaurant, Philadelphia and Semiramis hotel, Athens and exhibitions for Deutsche Bank and Audi. Rashid has collaborated with clients to create democratic design for Method and Dirt Devil, bikes for Biomega,[2] furniture for Artemide and Magis, brand identity for Citibank and Hyundai, high tech products for LaCie and Samsung, and luxury goods for Veuve Clicquot, Swarovski and Kenzo,[3] to name a few.
Rashid also edited the International Design Yearbook 18 (Calmann and King, 2003)
Karim Rashid married Serbian chemical engineer Ivana Purić, on September 1, 2008 in New York City. Karim is the brother of architect Hani Rashid, principal of New York-based architecture practice Asymptote. Karim is renowned for wearing pink and white.[4][5] Time magazine called him the "Most Famous Industrial Designer in All the Americas".[6]
Rashid has been credited by Bruce Sterling with coining the term "blobject", but this is disputed; others credit it to Steven Skov Holt.