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119 // TALKING WITH THE BIG KREAM WORDS // SHONQUIS MORENO PORTRAIT // KEETJA ALLARD larger than life
ON JUST THREE COFFEES A DAY, KARIM RASHID IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON 75 PROJECTS IN 24 COUNTRIES. HIS AIM IS SIMPLE: TO “SPREAD THE DESIGN GOSPEL GLOBALLY”. NO WONDER HE SOMETIMES SEEMS
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IF HE WERE AN ACTION HERO, SAYS KARIM RASHID, HE WOULD TAKE THE MONIKER BIG KREEMY, I Want To Change the World. With his gushing THE DOCTOR OF DESIGN. utopian language, his hugely prolific output and his signature white crewneck T-shirt, white jeans, Alain Mikli bubble sunglasses and devilish widow’s peak, the only thing missing from this scenario is a little technology. As it stands, Rashid’s preferred design tools include a black Pilot Fineliner, a pink fluorescent marker, a Wacom notepad with wireless pen and his In his superhero guise, Rashid would swoosh laptop, loaded with SolidWorks software and about wearing an ultra-high-tech, white permanently connected to the internet. microfibre suit loaded with fibre-optics, solar Whether you like Rashid’s work or not, the energy panels and polymer liquid-crystal displays. comparison with a superhero is apt: the designer, He would sport smart tattoos on his arms who drinks only three strong coffees a day (two containing personal data and have microchips regular and one decaf, with hot milk) is currently embedded in his eyes and ears for real-time working on some 75 projects in 24 countries. telecommunications, zooming capabilities and These include a jewellery collection, a mobile designing in virtual space. Big Kreemy’s mission, phone, a vacuum cleaner, a bicycle, cosmetics for as Rashid’s famously is, would be “to spread the Prada, products for Coca-Cola and furniture for design gospel globally and to motivate everyone to nearly a dozen manufacturers. There is glassware, live in a world surrounded by beautiful, fulgent, bathroom fixtures and lighting for Artemide; poetic, smart, contemporary things and spaces”. restaurant interiors in New York City, Long Rashid has publicly and earnestly declared his Island, Moscow and Paris; hotels in London and global intentions in the title of his 2001 book, Brighton; a clothing shop and cafe in Dubai;
FACING PAGE Rashid’s Bokka lamp, produced by Kundalini in 2005, is made from mouth-blown and waterjet-cut triplex glass. It is available as a table lamp (with chromed metal base and dimmer switch) or as this pictured suspension lamp. COURTESY KARIM RASHID 120 POL OXYGEN 118 karim.O2_14 8/6/05 1:14 PM Page 122
water and beer bottles for a Greek company; Rashid also recently opened a Karim shop in watches for Alessi; carpets for companies in Manhattan, where all his work can be purchased Germany and Turkey; plastic shoes and fashion in a single space: his digital/organic wall coverings accessories for a Brazilian firm; a newspaper for Wolf-Gordon (2003); shampoo bottles from vending machine for the city of New York (he the Semiramis Hotel in Athens, which he has already designed a manhole cover for designed in 2004; the Oh chair for Umbra (1999); Consolidated Edison); and a line of canine Ego vases for MGlass (2004); the Spider shoe accessories. He is also creating art installations for Fessura (2004); Stak dishware for Danese and paintings for an exhibition, making his own (2004); even his eponymous, glossy-flanked DJ music (under the name DJ Kreemy, of course), booth. In March alone, Rashid travelled to autographing fresh copies of a book called Digipop Moscow, Copenhagen, Milan, Padova, Venice, for Taschen (May, 2005) and completing another Frankfurt, Sao Paolo, Toronto, Cincinnati, (Design Your Life, due out in September) for San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Amsterdam, HarperCollins. (And this is only a partial list of his Breda and Detroit. current projects …) “I have my favourite airlines,” he admits, and “Of all the designers I have worked with on one then helpfully catalogues them. “Alitalia for the level or another, Karim is the hardest working coffee and food, British Airways for the beds, designer I have ever met,” says David Shearer, Singapore Airlines for the service, Scandinavian founder of New York group Totem Design and Airlines for the bathrooms, Emirates for the now at Exhibitions International. “His success hospitality, Air Canada for the micro-brewery beer, comes from his passion and drive, not luck or Air France for the attitude, KLM for the duty-free stylistic approach.” catalogue and Virgin for the manicures.” Rashid
FACING PAGE Kari, Ari, Arim and Rim candelabras/vases hand-blown from lead-free crystal, produced in 2002 for Turkish firm Gaia & Gino. Rashid took his inspiration for these multi-purpose creations from the ornamental shapes indigineous to the various ethnic tribes that found a home in the ancient lands that now form modern Turkey. Other Rashid designs for Gaia & Gino include tableware sets that mimic the skyline of Istanbul, complete with minarets. ABOVE The Plod sofa for FeliceRossi (2004), made of polyurethane foam on a cold-processed chrome steel base. “Comfort is not a style but a performance issue,” says Rashid. “Our domestic environment should be as smart, seductive and engaging as a laptop and other technology.” COURTESY DEDECE AND KARIM RASHID POL OXYGEN 123 118 karim.O2_148/6/051:14PMPage124 “As Karim’s bodyofwork carriesovermany raspberry, white,limeandcanary-yellow designs. person isasaccessible(andoverpublished) ashis their sizeorapparentsignificance, Rashidthe responding topressandclients alike, nomatter is integraltoeveryaspectofliving. is my‘nutopia’,”hesays one mustassume,ourmental–landscapes.“This contribute totheshiftingofourphysical–and, minimalism”, ashecallsit,Rashidhopesto By preachingthedesigngospelof“sensual touch oursensualside,[theyneed]tobehuman.” truth totheproduct–butthatobjectsalsoneed not toover-embellish objects–tokeepacertain possible,” hesays.“Ibelievethatitisimportant communicate thiseverywhereIgo,byanymeans “I amapreacherofculturalshapingandImust DESIGNGOSPEL...... PREACHINGTHE slept onwellover100differentmattresses. he canfilla100-pagesketchpad.Lastyearalone, finds focusinmidair:onasingleEuropeanflight
COURTESY SWAROVSKI lines, whichare litwithhalogen spotlights,are contourmaplinesofthe area. inspired bytheTyrol mountainrange(Swarovski’s base) inAustria:the ‘Crystal Palace’collectionattheMilan Furniture Fair. TheTopograph’s formwas Tokujin Yoshioka tointerpret thechandelierincrystalmanufacturer’s Swarovski invitesarangeofprogressive designerssuchasRonAradand ABOVE The Topograph chandelier, Swarovski, 2005.Eachyear flowing 118 karim.O2_148/6/051:14PMPage126 126 or leather-covered expandedpolyurethane onaswivellingchrome-plated steelbase. and transformsfrom anarmchairintoachaiselongue.Theseatcomesineither fabric- ABOVE POL OXYGENPOL Rashid’s Dragonflychair(2005)forItalianmanufacturer Bonaldoopensits‘wings’ Karim, istheworstformofinsincerity.” That’s justfalsemodestywhich,Iimaginefor over andpretendingtobesmallerthanyouare. such determination,there’s nopointhunching I supposewhenoneissomuchlargerthanlife,with I tellhimtoslowdownhejustaccelerates. maverick entrepreneurialismarerare.Everytime probably inthedesignworld.Hisenergyand “He hasaremarkabledrive,unparalleled a ring:thepair gave eachothergraphic-symbol marriage toartistMeganLang,but don’t lookfor his ownpracticeinManhattan. Bonetto StudioinMilan.By1993, hehadopened others), followedbyayearofwork attheRodolfo graduate studies(underEttoreSottsass,among design degree.HethenmovedtoItalyfor and Canada,whereheearnedhisfirstindustrial Asymptote Architecture)butraisedintheUK brother Hani,co-principalofNewYork-based Rashid, 44,wasborninCairo(alongwithyounger ...... TRAVELLINGLIFE June markedthe10thanniversary ofRashid’s these days…enjoyingitexhaustively.” SFMoMA inonehour,” hewrites.“Yes, itiscrazy arrived inSanFranciscoonmywaytolectureat touching downonthewestcoastofUS:“Just sends amessageintotheetherimmediatelyafter still onthemoveandconstantlypluggedin.He Fabbian –21designsinall.Meanwhile,Rashidis the collapsiblealuminiumKarmtasklampfor shelving andabi-levelcoffeetableforTonelli and armchair andOrikamisofaforLabel,glass-sheet with Rashid’s products.TheseincludedtheKite beer andkillmosquitoes”. deciding heneededaplacewhere“coulddrink River, whichRashidboughtontheinternetafter yellow-and-blue-panelled cottageontheHudson are thehappyownersofa1956Techbuilt Systems tattoos instead.Thecouplearechildless,butthey This year’s MilanFurnitureFairwasfilled
COURTESY KARIM RASHID