If you haven’t heard the name Karim Rashid in design circles, crawl out from under that rock and Google him today. An industrial designer and interior architect, Rashid is passionate about design and has won countless awards for his innovative work. While many designers specialise in one (or just a few) areas, Rashid does not restrict his sphere of influence and has worked with such diverse companies as Christofle, Veuve Clicquot, Alessi, Artemide, Samsung, Abet Laminati, Bobble, Sony Ericsson, Hugo Boss and so many more.
One of the reasons I find his body of work so interesting is not only the incredible scope of industries within which he seems to so easily fit, but that many of his designs – although contemporary in nature – are so timeless it is difficult to pinpoint their year of design or manufacture.
Take the examples pictured here – I’ve included the year for each so you can see when they were first designed and displayed. Yet, if they were put on display tomorrow we would not necessarily be able to pick that some are close to eight years old. And this is only a very small selection of his incredible body of work.
I highly recommend a visit to his website – www.karimrashid.com – for a pleasurable few hours (well, it’s supposed to be minutes but I always find I spend so much longer there than I probably should). You can either work your way through the entire scope of items or you can choose from sub-categories at the bottom if you prefer.
Rashid’s work is important because he doesn’t just step outside the proverbial “square” when it comes to new ways of looking at objects or functionality, he takes an almighty leap. And he always finds a way to bring a contemporary slant to a popular or traditional product. He’s not afraid to play with shape, aesthetics and style but he never loses sight of functionality.
Take a look and let us know what you think of this man’s style? Any other designers you absolutely love and would like to see us cover? Let us know.
