Karim Rashid


1960 

Karim Rashid was born on the 18th September 1960 in Egypt. He received a Bachelor of Industrial Design in 1982 from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Since then he has become one of the most successful industrial designers of his generation specialising in fields such as luxury goods, furniture, lighting, surface design, brand identity and packaging. Rashid's designs cover a vast number of categories and include the Garbo waste can, the Oh Chair for Umbra, a concept store for Giorgio Armani, manhole covers for the sewers of New York, perfume bottles for Kenzo, bobble water bottle, watches and tableware for Alessi, lighting for Artemide and products for Veuve Clicquot. He has also worked with Audi, Samsung, Swarovski and Armani.

He describes his designs as ‘Sensual minimalism’ and ‘blobjects’ and through his career has picked up a number of awards. Topping his long list includes the George Nelson award in 2008, the Canadian designer of the year award in 2011 and the red dot design award in 2012. However his most impressive award was the Pentaward in 2010, being the first designer to win.