Karim Rashid at IDSwest, Vancouver

Karim Rashid at IDSwest, Vancouver

When I was at the talk that Karim Rashid gave at IDSwest, Interior Design Show West, in Vancouver, I found he was able to elaborate on many ideas I already had in my head in a more basic form.  His philosophy resounded with me and I use this term to describe what he said because he is a thinker and a brilliant mind. I will try to briefly communicate his thoughts to you, but bear with me because it is not an easy task to write a few lines out of more than an hour talk so full of content and dynamism.

Karim Rashid at IDSwest, Vancouver

René Descartes, in Italian Cartesio when I studied philosophy in Milan, French philosopher of the XVII century, considered the father of modern philosophy, was cited by Rashid when he said that we have created a Cartesian world, but since in nature a straight line does NOT exist Karim Rashid created his objects and furniture with fluidity in mind, he thinks about us as amorphous creatures and he wants to create an amorphous world. A word he used to describe this was blobject which instantly connects us with softness, smoothness, bright colors. Rashid's objects and furniture always have these qualities and he conceive them as an extension of us, for example you can see above his Oh Chair for Umbra, which has a slight larger seat than usual and a back tilted more backward to make it... Oh! so comfortable.

Karim Rashid at IDSwest, Vancouver

When he talked about design versus style he was adamant that design is NOT style,which he said can hold us back,  instead we need to evolve through design, let go of archetypes and style of the past. Interesting example he brought to the audience was a prototype he saw recently of an electrical car with the same shape of an actual car which needs space for the engine, certainly unnecessary when an engine does not exist!

Karim Rashid at IDSwest, Vancouver

Rashid also focus always on contemporary criteria, he gave us an example of a credit card he created with more than one stripe, so it works in any way it is used, thus his design is addressing human behavior and the way we use things. Another example he gave, in this age of casualism, is that often a dining table is taking too much space if we don't use it regularly, so he focus instead on designing for eating at counters, on sofas or in bed.
Talking about the concept of freedom Rashid said that what inspires him most is the world we live in now, he loves this digital age that is changing the world as we know with so many
cultures
religions
borders
boundaries
territories
But he said digital age is FREE of the past and of archetypes. Communication now is immediate, we disseminate our creativity through blogs, Facebook, digital cameras and so on, the world is rapidly changing to one with
no color
no race
no gender
only individuality

 

Karim Rashid at IDSwest, Vancouver

Design touches us emotionally but first it needs to be functional, fluid, free, as a proof of what was said I encourage you to visit his website, if not familiar with him already, and take a moment to play its colored keyboard, you'll have fun! 
WOW...it was a very intense talk, only toward the end he sat down without his jacket on, but still very animatedly expressing his philosophy of design, so I have nothing else to add and I just hope I was able to transmit part of his brilliant talk! It was the highest moment of IDSwest and it was brought to us by Floform, countertops for the Canadian West.

More on IDSwest on my next post.

Photography © by Albarosa Simonetti

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