Featured Designer
Karim Rashid
Visionary and prolific, Karim Rashid is one of the most unique voices in design today. With more than 4000 designs in production, over 300 awards to his name, and client work in over 40 countries, Karim’s ability to transcend typology continues to make him a force among designers of his generation. Eschewing style in favor of designing in the modus of our time, Karim’s designs include luxury goods for Christofle, Alessi, Veuve Clicquot, and Riva 1920; democratic products for Umbra, Paul Mitchell, and 3M; timeless furniture for Bonaldo, Tonelli, BoConcept, and Vondom; exquisite lighting for Artemide and Fontana Arte; high-tech products for Asus and SirinLabs; surface design for Marburg and Abet Laminati; iconic branding for Hugo Boss and Citibank; and award-winning packaging for Method, Paris Baguette, Kenzo, and Eos. Karim’s influence expands beyond product to interiors, including restaurants like Switch in UAE; hospitality design for Park Inn by Radisson Amsterdam City West, Temptation Resort Cancun, and budget hotels for Prizeotel in Bremen, Hamburg, Munster, and Erfurt; public environments like Universita Metro Station in Naples; residential design like Paraiso Bayviews in Miami; and retail design for Fun Factory in Berlin and Munich. Additionally, he has collaborated on innumerable concept exhibitions for clients such as Dupont Corian, Deutsche Bank, PepsiCo, and Audi.
Numerous awards and accolades attest to Karim‘s contribution to the world of design. He is a perennial winner of the Red Dot award, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design award, Pentawards, and IDSA Industrial Design Excellence award. He holds Honorary Doctorates from Carlton University, Pratt Institute, OCAD in Toronto, British Institute of Interior Design, and Corcoran College of Art & Design. Contemporary artwork created by Karim ranges from digital prints to public art/ installation and sculpture. His works are featured in 20 permanent collections in various art institutions worldwide, including Brooklyn Museum of Art, MoMA, and The Center Pompidou. He has exhibited across the globe and is a frequent contributor to the Venice Biennale, as well as exhibiting major retrospectives of his design work in Sao Paulo, Seoul, Milan, and Ottawa. A cultural shaper, Karim is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally, aspiring to change the world by making design a public subject. He is also regularly featured in print and digital platforms by media companies like CNN, Vogue, Elle, GQ, The New York Times, and countless more. This reach allows Karim to fulfill his ambition of disseminating the importance of design in everyday life.
Karim‘s last monograph, XX (Design Media Publishing, 2015), features 400 pages of work selected from the last 20 years. Other monographs include From The Beginning, an oral history of Karim’s life and inspiration (Forma, 2014); Sketch, featuring 300 hand drawings (Frame Publishing, 2011); KarimSpace, featuring 36 of Karim’s interior designs (Rizzoli, 2009); Design Your Self, Karim’s guide to living (Harper Collins, 2006); Digipop, a digital exploration of computer graphics (Taschen, 2005); Compact Design Portfolio (Chronicle Books 2004); and classic titles Evolution (Universe, 2004) and I Want to Change the World (Rizzoli, 2001). Karim established his private design studio in New York City in 1992. He expanded his global reach with a studio in Shenzhen, China in 2014. In his spare time Karim’s pluralistic practice flirts with art, fashion, and music and is determined to creatively touch every aspect of our physical and virtual landscape.
Totally reconfigurable and scalable, Heartbeat is composed of three distinct seating elements: Straight, Concave, and Convex. Repositioning these three elements allows for the creation of a myriad of unique, morphing, undulating, physical landscapes. The shape and direction of the alternating seating resembles a wave or a pulse, keeps guests from being seated back to back, and makes it effortless to spark interaction. Designed to facilitate conversation, Heartbeat suggests sharing a “heart to heart” with your fellow human being.
Voxel, an architecture-like chair because of its structural and aesthetic simplicity, is based on an original Vondom piece. A production by injection molding provides the Voxel chair with a unique structural shape, angular and faceted. This technique distributes its weight in a balanced way and makes the piece lighter, and therefore easier to transport and store. Its stackability provides its design with a fair level of innovation. It is suitable for dining rooms, meeting rooms, celebrations and lecture halls, or just for enlivening a magnificent, sophisticated outdoor space. This chair is a good example of democratic design, high-end looking but reasonably affordable. Form and functionality combined without compromising beauty. It has a version for the little ones.
Karim’s energetic Ikons cover this limited edition can and packaging of pure coconut water. They are evocative symbols, each having its own meaning. Transcending language, the Ikons are contemporary hieroglyphics addressing the world today. 100 is the best alternative to soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit juices, and water. Non-GMO, never from concentrate, it contains one single ingredient: coconut water. It naturally hydrates through 100% all-natural ingredients and electrolytes. It has zero added sugar, cholesterol or fat, with no preservatives added.
Located at 1200 Bladensburg Road NE in Washington D.C, less than 2 miles away from the U.S Capitol, the project is a 5-story rental building with 37 apartments. The unit mix will span from studios to 2 bedrooms, and the retail floor will get a restaurant and a local café. The building will offer a unique, environmentally sustainable design. The distinct black façade is made out of highly sustainable clay panels, and the lobby will feature a floor to ceiling information screen to show air quality, weather and public transportation options.
Additional features includes Amazon package system, Smart entry in each unit, and 2 spots for car share at the building parking. Where 25,000 vehicles passing by every day to enter the nation capitol, Bladensburg Road has emerged in recent years as a more affordable alternative to the surrounding expensive H Street and Union Market. ‘Urbanico’ has bet big on that street with several projects and over 150 units currently under development. The project is expected to break ground in June 2020.
more. www.karimrashid.com
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