Karim Rashid was born in Cairo in 1960 - half Egyptian, half English, raised in Canada and practices in New York. His perspective and clients are global and while he considers himself more of a cultural provocateur, his projects range from products, interiors, fashion, furniture, lighting, art and music to installations. In 1993, he opened his own studio in New York City. His clients include Umbra, Prada, Magis, Herman Miller, Foscarini, Giorgio Armani, Yahoo, and Guzzini, among others. Karim has designed and produced over 2000 products during his career. Karim's works are in the permanent collections of 14 Museums and has over 70 objects in permanent collections.
karimrashid.com
Karim says ..
“Gaia and Gino is a new company that has its vision and heart and commerce all the in right place. They have a vision to do new tabletop projects that speak about our contemporary landscape, that touch on values, materials, ideas, and production methods local to Turkey but with a very strong global vision and accessibility. The first collection I designed with them was drawn on my first trip to Istanbul where I was so inspired by the landscape, the people, the food, the culture. Many pieces were sketched form my hotel window . For example The morphscape is a non-stop continuation of a single undulating ceramic surface that is divided into every need for the table and dining so you can actually have an entire table connected by each function as a modular scape. The inspiration was the city scape of Istanbul from Minarets to mosques to the modern city and the Bosphorus sea. The rest of the collections were inspired by visiting the underground basilica, the relics of the prophet Mohammad. And Istanbul’s fulgent life and beautiful people from dancing on tables to the mix of east meets west , the modernism of Islam, the uniqueness of the ornatene versus order , the classicism of the architecture mixed with the contemporary youth culture, and the plethora of diverse exotic tastes of the food. The first collection has brought one of the first Turkish companies into the global spotlight and I am so pleased and inspired to work with Gaia and Gino and will continue to develop new objects, and new typologies.”
