Karim Rashid

What do you like most in the relationship with companies and entrepreneurs Italian? Italians really do ‘do it better’. The Italians are so passionate and afford and allow me to experiment whereas most countries do not take these kinds of risks with design. They have a great culture of accepting and demanding high design. I would say the Italians not only created the phenomena of design, but they are some of the most forward prescient company in the word so I don’t agree with you.What does Salone del mobile mean for you? Since the 60’s Milan has been a design mecca partially due to the Milan furniture Isaloni but also the fashion weeks. Unlike any other cities in Italy, Milano has really matured into the world’s design capital, attracting global participation. The Milan fair attracts 350,000 visitors and there are about 1000 design showrooms alone in Milan, more than any other city in the world. You cannot walk a block without seeing 2 or 3 design showrooms or shops from kitchens to furniture to lighting to houswares to bath and accessories. I always loved Milano.There is a product or a project  which is particularly important for you? Well that is a difficult task! As with most creative people it is difficult to have a favorite since my mind and passion is always into my latest projects. But if I must choose then I am proud of the Garbo can for Umbra that I designed in 1994 since it is 20 years old and still so successful My other favorite design is the Kaj watch for Alessi. I have all 12 colors so I change them everyday. They are so light, so comfortable, so simple, and inexpensive, which is really my mantra. What’s bcool for Karim Rashid? Bcool for me is about self-expression! Bcool is a way of being, a love and respect for one’s immediate environment and one’s self. I believe that we are all on this planet to express ourselves. We are all different, all have a different fingerprint so why should you dress like everyone else or decorate your home like everyone else! express yourself and be individual. Your idea of “design for all” is just like the concept of The Place: luxury fashion Made in Italy for everyone. Basically you both promote “democracy luxury” as culture of beauty? I have a desirous need to spread the culture of design, to democratize design, to popularize design, and to contribute and inspire others to shape a better more inspiring world. The same could be said for The Place!The Place supports, just like your last Italian opera, all that is green and environmentally sustainable. The Zegna family for generations supports its own territory. Are you of this idea?Is the environment important for Karim Rashid? We live in the digital age and I feel that our physical world should be a mirror of our information immaterial world. Design is about moving us forward, about industrial production, new technologies, new materials, new behaviors, greater function, higher performance, and a betterment of society. But in the future we will own nothing – this is really nature- we lease cars, we lease houses, and soon we will learn to lease everything, experience it for a short while, and go on to the next. We will create a hyper consumptive, forever dynamic, ever-vast changing human condition, where everything will be cyclic, sustainable, biodegradable, customizable, personalizable and seamless. This is Utopia, this is freedom, and this is nirvana.