SpeakerKarim Rashid is a leading figure in the fields of product, interior, fashion, furniture, lighting design and art. Born in Cairo, half Egyptian, half English, and raised in Canada, Rashid now practices in New York.
He is best known for bringing his democratic design sensibility to the masses. Designing for an impressive array of clients from Alessi to Dirt Devil, Umbra to Prada, Miyake to Method, Rashid is radically changing the aesthetics of product design and the very nature of the consumer culture. He has had some 2 500 objects put into production to date. His designs of the Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia and the award-winning Semiramis Hotel in Athens have successfully expanded Rashid 's scope to include the realm of architecture and interior design.
Rashid was honoured with the title of 2007 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards Product Design finalist, the 2006 Honorary Doctorate from the Ontario College of Art and Design, the 2005 Honorary Doctorate from Corcoran College, the Sleep05 European Hotel Design Award, and the 2005 Pratt Legends Award. Rashid has also won the prestigious ID Magazine Annual Design Review, Red Dot Design Award, and Chicago Athaneum Good Design Award numerous times throughout his career. His work is in the permanent collections of 14 museums worldwide including MoMA and SFMoMA 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 has published his guide to living Design Your Self from Regan Books (2006); Digipop, a digital exploration of computer graphics (Taschen, 2005); Karim Rashid: Compact Design Portfolio (Chronicle Books, 2004), as well two monographs titled Evolution (Universe; 2004) and I Want to Change the World (Rizzoli, 2001). He edited the International Design Yearbook 18 for Calmann and King (2003) and released two CDs on boutique label, Neverstop.