There’s something intuitively appealing about the designs of Karim Rashid, who has designed coat racks, couches, and practically everything in between. His “Limacon” couch (1997) would feel equally comfortable in the spaceship home of George Jetson or in a stylish living room in Milan. Its boldly asymmetrical form, with a modified teardrop cut out of the back cushion, rests delicately on diminutive steel legs. It doesn’t look like it should work, but it does. The cutout adds a wonderful sense of depth and integrates the space behind the couch with the piece, thus unifying the entire environment.
When approached by Umbra to put his mind to the ubiquitous problem of the household trashcan, Rashid again rose to the task with a beautiful and sensuous container. The biomorphic “Garbo” (1996) and smaller “Garbino” are manufactured from a pearly polypropylene that recalls the cool, bleached-blond diva herself. Their translucent and subtle colors have been welcomed into literally millions of homes and offices worldwide.
Rashid tends toward biomorphic and organic shapes, but his production process never leaves the world of “digital ether.” Designed entirely on computers with the spec drawings transferred directly to the manufacturer, his objects roll off a computerized production line without the touch of the human hand. Yet within these seemingly tight constraints, Rashid has been able to set up designs so that each piece comes out unique. The final products sport the inherent magic of apparently random touches.
Rashid opened his own office in 1991, but collaborated with other designers on collections since 1985 and also worked for a few design firms along the way. He has pieces in galleries and museums from New York to San Francisco and has shared his ideas in lectures and teaching residencies. He currently holds the title of Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
In addition to overseeing his own practice, Rashid is an associate professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has taught at a variety of institutions. He has also received a number of awards for his designs, including the 1999 George Nelson Award, a Silver IDEA Award (for the “Oh” chair), and a “Best of Category” recognition in I.D. Magazine’s annual design review. In 1998 he was chosen as “Young Designer of the Year” by the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Karim Rashid’s designs reside in the permanent collections of various institutions, including the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He plans to continue enriching the experience of products, at the same time critiquing the overabundance of merely adequately designed products. “I want to design something that ups the ante.”