“People on average touch 600 items a day, and their potential to help us or bring us joy is enormous. Designers have the power to shape a better and smarter world, to simplify, but also inspire every individual’s life, to make quality and beautiful products available to everyone, “says Karim at the beginning of his conversation with Klix.ba
The Branding Conference in Sarajevo will, among other things, discuss the future of design.
“The world is becoming very effective – visually and informatively. Energy and time are hypertrophic, and consumers are interested in being constantly stimulated and excited about their physical environment. It is the legacy of the digital age. Our motivation should be focused on our conscious collective memory and the desire to fulfill ideas that combine art and life seamlessly. I bring companies differentiation, innovation, human needs, and desires – everything that is needed today in business. Without that, brands will not survive on our global, highly competitive market,” he said.
When asked why he believes that brand transformation is important in today’s times, he tells us that design is what makes a big difference in the new, highly competitive world of globalization, free trade, and free enterprise.
“Brands today have great significance and they are all aware of it. In the 1980s, all companies tried to be just like everyone else (the theory of metoisism). However, we arrived at a time in which innovation and differentiation are the only way to sustain a brand in real life. We live in fantastic times because there are no clear boundaries and categories for the first time in the world of design, ” he explains, adding that one should keep in mind that brand loyalty today is based on a product that fulfills (or exceeds) user expectations.
For more than thirty years, in the field of design, he has been at the very top. He designed more than 3,000 products and influenced design in more than 35 countries. He tells us how he usually does not work with other designers, but rather with significant brands and how he is most innovative when he meets and talks to a client who is determined to do something new, original or inspiring.
“If I cooperate with a company, the basic expectation is for me to marry my brand, vision and the company’s ideas and culture. Generally, the companies I work with and who come to me have a very similar philosophy to mine. In these cases, we work really well together. There is a myth that designers have an idea that the company turns into a product. It took me many years to learn that this only works when you have real interpersonal relationships because they are everything – in life, love, business, friendship, ” he says.
Over the past twenty years, he has received more than 400 awards for his creations and, admittedly, he is very proud of that.
“I am honored to receive awards, but true recognition is to see my items in the homes of the average person, or in a space where people create and have the opportunity to enjoy and experience. Design is for people, not for museums. For me the highlight is the fact that more than a million people follow my Facebook page because I have always seen design as a populist rather than an elitist act, ” he explains.
He adds that the success of his work is not defined through awards or museums, but by the number of consumers who like his work. To the question, what is your success philosophy he says, “When I look back on my work, I realize that all of my creations had several things in common; they were extremely functional and they made life easier, they were flexible, comfortable and had good production technology. Everything was minimal but still sensual and human. ”
Experimentation is the basis of the work of Karim Rashid who especially likes to work with bio-plastic.
“I am obsessed with working with socially conscious plastic that is biodegradable, recycled, or even derived from alternative sources such as corn, sugar, bark and acai wood. These polymers do not use oil, so they are much more environmentally sustainable. There are many biodegradable materials that I use now, which is incredible. Therefore, I can create a synthetic, sculptural, comfortable world, but with smarter ecological materials, “he says.
Talking about the significance of design, Karim says that our lives become enhanced when beauty, comfort, luxury, performance, and utility seamlessly interconnect.
“Products and furniture must be in line with our emotional mindset, as this increases imagination and experience. That’s good design. Poor design creates a burden, acts as a source of stress, complicates tasks and does not bring beauty to the world. What is becoming timeless and precious are emotional objects, that is, objects that embraced new technology, ” he explains.
Asked if he had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Bosnian design scene, Karim said that there is an incredible passion and need for design in this region.
“I am very optimistic about the future of design in Bosnia, because, due to the experience of working with small entrepreneurs, many of them are very shy and feel the pulse of continuous lifestyle changes, and they usually achieve success and can become recognized brands at night” Brending.ba reports.
