RASHID,KARIM   (Q Chaise)

"People project meaning onto objects. If an object allows you to interact with it, then it becomes part of your being, and over time you see things in it that first you might not have seen," Karim has said. His designs have been ubiquitous, from the Garbo trash can to the Oh Chair. Of design, Karim said, "I want industrial design to be a public subject. I want people to love objects the way they love clothing."

Karim Rashid was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960; Half-English, half Egyptian and raised mostly in Canada. He received a Bachelor of Industrial Design in 1982 from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He pursued graduate design studies in Naples, Italy, with Ettore Sottsass and others, then moved to Milan for one year at the Rodolfo Bonetto Studio. On his return to Canada, he worked for seven years with KAN Industrial Designers. While at KAN, he also co-founded and designed the Babel Fashion Collection and North from 1985-91.

He opened his own practice in New York City in 1993. He has worked for numerous clients globally such as Nambe, Umbra, Idee, Issey Miyake, Totem, Pure Design, Zeritalia, Fasem, Guzzini, Estee Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani, Sony, Magis, Edra, Leonardo, Zanotta, Prada, Maybelline, Yahoo, George Kovacs, Citibank, Nienkamper, YSL, and others.

His awards include the Canadian Design Hero 2001; Daimler Chrysler 1999 Award; George Nelson Award 1999; The Silver IDEA Award 1999; The Philadelphia Museum of Art Collab Award 1999; The Brooklyn Museum of Art Designer of the Year 1998; Design Effectiveness Gold Award 2001, and 1999; ID Magazine Annual Review Design Distinction in 1999 (Best of Packaging Category and two distinction awards), 1998 (3 design distinction awards), 1993 (1 award), 1991(1 award), and honorable mention in 2000, 1997 & 1994; Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995; 18 Canadian Virtu Awards from 1985-00; and 30 UNDER 30 (1989) among others.

He has over 70 objects in permanent collections and his design work has been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Chicago Athenaeum, Chicago; Wexner Center, Columbus, Ohio; Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal; Toronto Design Exchange, Toronto; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, NYC: The Israeli Museum, New York; The British Design Museum, London; Emily Carr Museum, Vancouver; Tokyo Gas, Tokyo; Miami Museum of Contemporary Art; The Groningen Museum, Holland among others.

He has also exhibited art at Jeffery Deitch Projects, NYC: Sandra Gering Gallery, NYC: Idee Gallery, Tokyo: John Weber Gallery, NYC: Totem Gallery NYC: Gallery 91 NYC: Rice Gallery, Houston: Capp St. Gallery, San Francisco: Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, among others.

His work has been published in International Design Yearbook 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15; Product Design 6, 7; New and Notable Book 1, 2; and periodicals such as The New York Times, GQ, Metropolis, ID Magazine, Graphis, Domus, Axis, Wind, Nikkei, Azure, Interni, Abitare, British Design, DDN, Blueprint, Wallpaper, Vogue, Modo, Harper's Bazaar, Mirabella, L'Officiel, Jalouse, Nylon, Form, Time, Arena, House & Home, House and Garden, Metropolitan Home, New York Magazine, Food and Wine, Monument, among many others.

He has been a juror for several international competitions and a contributing writer for design periodicals. He was a full-time Associate Professor in Industrial Design for 10 years at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, and the Ontario College of Art and lectures internationally.