Karim Rashid is a successful New York based Furniture and Product designer. I say he is successful in the sense that he has somehow convinced companies to give him large amounts of money while he in turn churns out appalling designer pap.
I have included an image of furniture by Rashid. He specialises in a kind of dumbed down organic design, so badly thought through it makes Michael Young's work look good. It's all bright colours and curves all over the place in order to give the impression of hip design.
Rashid plays up to this image by dressing like the Design worlds answer to Snoop Doggy Dog. If you saw him you would have thought he was a pimp rather than a furniture designer. Still it seems to be working for him as reputable companies queue up to employ him. It's all about walking the walk and talking the talk and not about trying to create objects that are more useful, efficient or enviromentally responsible. This is a man who has published books about himself called 'Evolution' and 'I want to Change the World'. Based on his work, if Karim Rashid did change the world it would only be for the worse.
