I had the pleasure of interviewing Eva Ziegler, the GlobalBrand Leader for W Hotels Worldwide and Le Méridien, last week when she was intown to help show off the W South Beach, which is nearing its opening date. Wediscussed how the designs of the company’s diverse locales evolve and how thebrand manages to stay at the top of its game. In her own words:
The designs of the W Hotels are always linked to thelocations, but in a stylish and sophisticated way with a lighthearted approach.We tie the design to a specific place, but in an unexpected way. You might sayit’s always a cool interpretation of the location. For instance, with the WFort Lauderdale, which has just opened, Clodagh was inspired by the flora andfauna of South Florida and the impact of the water, so her theme was underwater.
We always layer in unique experiences. Many locations haveBliss Spas and destination bars. We call our lobby the living room, so there isusually a living room bar, as well. Our pools are called “Wet,” and our gyms“Sweat.” In these cases, the design is important because it sets the scene, butthe thing that sets us apart is the spirit of our people. They are connected bythe purpose of service.
When we hire designers, there’s a period of brand immersionwhen they present the story they want to tell and their rational by creatingmood boards. This sets the design narrative for a project. Then we have them dorenderings so that the visuals begin to come together. The designs for ourproperties have to have an engaging element to them because design becomes atool for innovation and provides a platform for experiences. As much as theshell of the stage is important, the experience we are layering in to provide acertain lifestyle is key and the culture our people provide is key.
At the W Hotels, we have created the position of “TheInsider,” the person who is connected to the city in the coolest way. Thisperson engages guests to provide insight into those venues and activities thatonly the hippest local residents would know about. This gives our guests accessto the insider experience in our cities.
Rather than defining our target audience by age, which isn’ta distinctive enough determiner now, we define it by attitudes and values. Withthe W brand, the sweet spot is the latest, newest, hippest, coolest trend. It’sa need to see and be seen.
We keep our audience satisfied with the next big “wow.”Sometimes, it’s the little details that create a “wow,” like finding browniesin the Bliss Spa where one would expect to find cucumbers. It is also aboutproviding over-the-top service. If a guest feels like running at 2 a.m., wewill know where to find a pair of Nikes. If someone wants a chocolate bath, wewill accommodate that. We make the impossible possible and the inaccessible accessible.
[The design team for the W South Beach includesaward-winning design firm Yabu Pushelberg, renowned architect Costas Kondylis,Anna Busta of Studio B Design, landscape designer Paula Hayes andGrammy-nominated photographer Danny Clinch.] For designer links, visit my Examiner page.
I think the Design District really is symbolic of the future of Miami as an important city. You see these great things happening like the Hertzog and de Meuron structure for the Miami Art Museum, MoCA’s expansion and the growth at the Bass—all of these are woven into the fabric of our communites. I see the Design District as this oasis in the context of a city that’s growing and becoming an interesting place to live.
We’ve worked diligently to make certain that we didn’t create a copy of any other neighborhood that you can visit in America. One of the things that saddens me when I walk around Georgetown, for instance, is that every shop is the same—Gap, Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret. Don’t get me wrong; that’s good for business and for property owners but at the end of the day, the community doesn’t really stand for anything.
Take South Beach, it wasn’t born because we copied what everyone else was doing. We were contrarian. We found ways to adapt and reuse these beautiful historical structures—restored them and came up with new concepts for them. The businesses that really pushed South Beach into a new category were unique places that were owned by entrepreneurs, like News Café, The Forge and Pacific Time.
Back to the District, we are becoming central to Miami’s emergence as an arts destination. I think Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz are creating a beautiful building to house their collection, which is so important to us. When you think about it, in and around the Design District, you have the Rubell Collection, the Margulies Collection and some outstanding galleries. It’s quite amazing that you have in this little area the best art, design and fashion from around the world and that you can eat in some of the city’s best restaurants.
The neighborhood is the only place in town where so many unique things are offered. You could piece it together if you fly all around the world, but you can’t find it all in one location like you can here. Visiting the District is a real opportunity to experience a place that’s in transition, a place that's growing and transpiring.
For more from Craig Robins on what makes the Design District great, including information about the neighborhood’s top restaurants and showrooms, visit the American Eagle web site and read my article for Latitudes Magazine, the airline’s in-flight publication. For a slideshow of Design District sites, visit my Examiner page. One of the Design District’s unique showrooms, Emeshel, is featured on the DesignCommotion blog today.
In 1972, Eileen Gray’s popularity as a furniture designerresurfaced after a thirty-five year hiatus when Yves Saint-Laurent bought herfour-panel lacquer screen Le Destin at aParis auction for over thirty-six thousand dollars. Her response: “C’estabsurde.” Were she still alive, she mightfind the frequency with which her furniture designs are knocked-off even moreabsurd. Writing for the London Times, Lucia Van der Post, who has followed the marketability of Gray’s worksince the 1970s, dubs her one of the most plagiarized designers in the world.
Of her frequently copied designs, one of the most reproducedis her E.1027 adjustable table. Peter Adam—Gray’s friend and author of thebiography “Eileen Gray: Architect/Designer”—compiled a Catalogue Raisonné of her furniture, listing only six known originals,half of which are in private collections and half in museums.
Though I found that none claim to have originals, a plethoraof Internet sites and retail design shops sell the “Eileen Gray E.1027 Table,”and by naming it so create the illusion that the designer authorized theirproduct. An E-Bay ad lists one that was produced in Italy for $239. DesignWithin Reach has a replica for $398, while ClassiCon’s “licensed, numbered andsigned” version sells for $896. Of these, only ClassiCon’s table is as close toan original as you will get without forking out thousands of dollars (when or,more likely, if one were to be sold at auction). That’s because the latedesigner personally authorized Londoner Zeev Aram to reproduce three of herdesigns—among them the E.1027—in the early 1970s, and Aram markets the tablethrough his Aram Designs and ClassiCon, a German company.
Why are there so many renditions of this iconic table?Terence Riley, the former Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture andDesign at The Museum of Modern Art—where one resides in the permanentcollection—says it’s due to its smart design. “It is light weight and can bemoved about the room,” he explains. “The height can be raised and lowered sothat it serves many functions. It is said that one of Gray’s sisters liked tohave breakfast in bed and the table was designed so that the raised positioncleared a mattress.”
According to Riley, MoMA chose the E.1027 for its collectionbecause the original chromed metal tables with either glass or enameled topswere so progressive. “In its day, it would have appeared quite daring comparedto the staid, dark wood furniture that was popular,” he explains.
Penelope Rowlands, author of Eileen Gray: Compact DesignPortfolio, states that Gray’s designsremain surprisingly fresh, though they were designed decades ago: the E.1027table, which was designed in 1927, is a keen example. Though the name seemssomewhat mechanical, its origins are highly personal. The table shares itsmoniker with a seaside retreat in Roquebrune-Cap Martin, France (near Monaco),which architecture critic and editor Jean Badovici commissioned Gray to design(they were lovers when the home was built). E stands for Eileen; 10 representsJ, the tenth letter of the alphabet; 2 equals B and 7 is for G. “The table andthe house were designed at the same time, and there is a strong relationshipbetween the two,” says Riley. “In her best work, she is not only a craftsman, conceivingand making objects, but an architect designing the total environment.”
Miami-based interior designer Anna Suarez-Burgos, who isalways searching for original and licensed furnishings for clients, says,“Anyone who values the integrity of original designs should be willing to paythe price for authorized copies, no matter how cheap the knock-offs are.” Aramagrees for an important reason: “Authorized versions cost more becauseroyalties are paid to the estate of the designer, thus encouraging designinnovation by rewarding design innovation.”
So how would you tell the difference between an authorizedE.1027 and a knock-off? “The quality of the authorized versions is superior andtruer to the original designs,” says Aram. “Most of the pieces sold throughofficial dealers (especially the tubular steel furniture) have numbers and/orEileen Gray’s signature imprinted somewhere on the frame.” If there is nosignature or number, ask an expert for an opinion or educate yourself beforebuying; check the provenance of the piece and go to a museum to see an originalif possible. And always ask for a certificate of authenticity.
“Priorto my collaboration with Eileen Gray, her designs were only really known todesign academics,” remarks Aram. “Being instrumental in making her designsavailable around the world to the extent that she is almost a household namehas been the most satisfying and worthwhile challenge of my career.” A lessworthwhile challenge for Aram is protecting his product from those who reproduceit without the designer’s consent.
DC: You have said that you see design as their "thirdskin," how do you help cilents develop the consciousness to understand theconcept? Do you illustrate your point with particular products or interiorsthat you deem successful, or do you help them embrace the idea philosophically?
NK: We have designed our showrooms to feel that way. Ashuman beings we have an innate ability to “feel a space.” Let’s take theexample of the interior of your automobile, which has been very carefullydesigned. We “feel” very good inside the bubble of the “third skin.” The desireto replicate the small bubble into larger ones in your home and office occur ifthere is awareness. When you travel, you seek out places that have takenextreme care to replicate this phenomenon. As your sensibility develops, you take greater care of the details.
DC: Have you always seen design in such a profound way ordid this ability develop over time?
NK: I was influenced by the Bauhaus at a very young age andalso through traveling to Europe, touching and feeling what had been on paperwas such a turning point. As Luminaire developed I was always in very closecontact with the whole discipline of design, which is intricately intertwinedwith my life. I am, and will always remain a student of Design. There is nosuch point at which one arrives. It is the state of the mind.
DC: I would imagine that being exposed to so much designtalent is life enriching. Is this the case?
NK: Absolutely. It is so fulfilling also to meet people whofeel the same way as I do. Last weekend I chaired a session at the DesignSymposium in Indianapolis, and I met some incredibly talented people who I hadnever met before from countries as far away as Sweden. They came up to me andtold me that they felt the same way and that their lives had been enriched byDesign.
DC: If you were to identify some type of progression ofdesign you've seen during the past 35 years, what would that be?
NK: When we began Luminaire, Design was marketed as anobject, not a way of life. It was extremely difficult for consumers to haveaccess to good design. Design was sort of elitist, and not to be embraced as away of life. We were among the first design resource to provide open access tothe public, and the ability to truly experience and acquire good design
Today the scene has changed. Design is offered as a way oflife, whether in everyday objects or through the increased synergies between architectureand design. The American consumer is able to experience design on an everydaybasis through showrooms like ours, the endorsement by the media, great museums,design fairs and incredible content on the Internet.
It is the exposure which generates awareness, not an innatetaste, which is mistakenly the label the world would like to put on Americans.Practically every industry has been touched by design, and design is the mostimportant driving force behind innovation.
DesignCommotion wanted to know how Giulio Cappellini, who isin charge of the artistic direction for Cappellini,manages to stay on the leading edge of contemporary Italian design. Here’s whathe had to say:
DC: Your very name is synonymous with avant-garde Italiandesign: what is it about you that you believe has set you apart in the designworld?
GC: The continuous desire to innovate, risk and search fornew and interesting creative people in the world. I have always had thiscoherent approach whilst thinking that there are always more new things to doin the design sector.
DC: As you scout and nourish new design talent, what do youlook for in the beginning that proves there’s a kernel of genius in theperson’s designs?
GC: It is important to understand if there are signs ofresearch, of great personal and original innovation in a young designer, and ifthey are ready to question themselves, as making a product is somethingserious.
DC: You have said that one of your responsibilities is tomake designers dream. How do you foster this level of synergy with thedesigners with whom you collaborate?
GC: It is important to find a perfect feeling between myselfand the designer. You can discuss, try and work for a long period of time on aproject with the aim of creating a good product only if you have the rightharmony.
DC: Why do you think Miami has become a U.S. epicenter forItalian design?
GC: I think that Miami is a contemporary city, open todifferent cultures and therefore completely open to new stimulus in art anddesign.
DC: How have you seen Italian design change over the courseof your career?
GC: From the 1950s to the 1980s, Italian design has beencharacterized by strong stylistic and functional innovation. It seems that inthe last few years many companies have concentrated more on presentinglifestyle than extraordinary products, something that I think should be thetrue vocation of a brand.
DC: You have said that you work to nurture long-sellersrather than bestsellers when you work with designers. Who do you think is yournewest long seller?
GC: Most definitely the Mr. Bugatti chairs by FrançoisAzambourg and the Lotus seating collection by Jasper Morrison because they arecomplex, innovative and honest products.
DC: What do you love most about what you do?
GC: What I most like is to think that there is always somuch yet to do in design. It is not true that everything has already been done.
DC: If you could change anything about your profession, whatwould it be?
GC: I would try and make products that are closer to thepublic’s requirements, and that can also make them dream.
DC: What is the most exciting thing you’ve done in your workduring the past several years?
GC: Definitely having had the possibility to meet andcollaborate with fantastic people such as Achille Castiglioni, Shiro Kuramata,Jasper Morrison and many others. Exchanging ideas with these people has givenme the possibility to really grow from a cultural point of view.
DC: When you were a child, were there signs that you wouldbe involved in some type of design? How did your creativity show itself at anearly age?
GC: I have always been curious and I have always likedplaying with forms and colors, being attracted most of all by simplicity, in asophisticated and not banal way. My dream has always been to create fascinatingand innovative objects.
Though AutoCAD and IntelliCAD have changed how architects work and store their ideas, preserving traditional,unwieldy plans is no small feat when an architect has been blessed with a longand successful career. John L. Volk, who completed over 2,000 commissionsduring a career that spanned six decades, is one of these prolific draftsmen,and his wife, Lillian Jane, believes it’s the artistry with which he approachedeach project that made him one of the premier architects in Palm Beach from the1920s to the early 1980s.
For doubting Thomases, she can easily prove herclaims by foraging through more than 26,000 architectural drawings or acatalogued collection of notes, prints, sketches and photographs, which she hasarchived since John’s death in 1984. She keeps the collection in the home thatthey shared for many years, which is just above the office he maintained inPalm Beach. “When you look at his drawings, you see the hand of an artist,” sheremarks, pointing to a finely drawn elevation of an ornate column, one of manyframed drawings that line the hallway. “These are works of art that must neverbe lost.”
Volk and his contemporaries—Addison Mizner, Marion SmithWyeth, Joseph Urban, Maurice Fatio and Howard Major to name a few—were dubbedthe inventors of Palm Beach Style. They peppered the “American Riviera” withwhat they called Spanish architecture. “I knew that he was brilliant when Imarried him, but I didn’t know he was a genius until I saw the depths of hisarchitectural talents,” says Mrs. Volk. “It bothers me that Mizner has gainedso much more attention than John—not that he doesn’t deserve attention, and heand John were certainly close friends. But I believe that John had an equal or greaterimpact on architecture in this country and that drives me to protect hisarchives so that history will eventually prove it.”
Towardthis effort, she has organized his plans—many of which are sheathed in theoriginal metal tubes, some rusty from age and the salt-tinged air of southFlorida. For nearly two decades and without hesitation, she has opened her hometo writers and scholars who want to research her husband’s work. In 2001, shecollaborated with her son and daughter-in-law, John K. and Lory Armstrong Volk,to publish John L. Volk: Palm Beach Architect. Volk was aprolific writer, and she credits her insistent nature for the preservation ofevery word he published. “I was always after him to save things and filethings,” she remarks. “At the time, he thought I was a pain. Now I think hewould be glad.”
The uproar over the 2 Columbus Circle building that nowhouses the Museum of Arts and Design was a raucous one. In the August 18, 2005,edition of The New York Times, David W. Dunlap wrote, “The LandmarksPreservation Commission seems to have painted itself into a corner over 2Columbus Circle.” Hicks Stone,the original architect’s son, remarks to DesignCommotion, “I think that whenyou replace a building you have an obligation to produce a work that is as strongas the building that you replaced. MAD and Brad Cloepfil clearly did not dothat.”
IN HIS OWN WORDS...Hicks Stone on the renovation of 2Columbus Circle: “Whatever you choose to say about father's building, it took arhetorically strong position. Maybe the decorative elements of the originalbuilding made people squeamish, maybe some felt that the vaguely Venetiandetailing was eccentric, but it made a very strong statement about themodernist aesthetic and it's almost Puritanical attitude toward warmth andsensuousness in design. The building there now is as bland as it can possiblybe: even the Time Warner project looks bold and dynamic compared to it. Also,when I walked around the building, the execution of the details was poorlyconceived with unfortunate and unresolved conditions at the base. If you aregoing to follow the path of serene modernist design, then you need to take thetime to make your detailing flawless, like Taniguchi did at MoMA. I think thatin an effort to rebrand themselves, all MAD did was succeed in dumbing down thebuilding and the City, which I sadly suppose is representative of every otheraspect of our society and culture.”
See other design/architecture-related stories at www.DesignCommotion.com.
Since revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement, DaleChihuly has continually pushed to new heights and experimented with new forms,creating blown glass artistry that enhances indoor and outdoor environments.His works are synonymous with drenching color.
SH: Have you always been fascinated with color?
DC: No, there was a period in the 70s and 80s when I usedsubtle color, but I had run out of new colors in the palette I was working withand decided to use bright colors. I have ever since.
SH: How did you choose glass as your medium?
DC: That’s a difficult question to answer.If I think way back, I remember stainedglass windows in a church I went to as kid; they fascinated me. I also combedthe beach when I was a boy for Japanese glass fishing floats—it was thrillingto find them, but it wasn’t until I was taking a course at the University ofWashington in 1962 that I saw the first clear indication of my fascination withglass as an adult. The teacher told us to put something unusual into a weavingthat we were all making and I chose glass that I had fused to a copper wire.
SH: Did you know you would be an artist when you were young?
DC: My mother tells me that I liked to sit on the floor anddraw when I was a kid, but I wasn’t a very serious student, especially in highschool—I lost my father and my only sibling during that time, so I was prettydistracted. It wasn’t until halfway through college that my desire to really dosomething kicked in during a trip to Europe. I came back a changed person whowas determined to do something with my life.
SH: What launched your career as a dynamic glass artist?
DC: I started the glass program at the Rhode Island Schoolof Design; then I started the Pilchuck Glass School north of Seattle, whichbecame known as one of the most recognizable glass schools in the world. Now,there are more glassblowers in Seattle than there are in Venice.
SH: How do you explain the excitement that your works create?
DC: The color is a very important part of it, but it couldalso be the scale of the works I create. I think people are excited becausethey are often looking at things they’ve never seen before.
SH: Is there a challenge you have not yet met that you dreamof fulfilling?
DC: I’ve thought about what it would be like to design myown building and then do an installation in it.
SH: Is there an upcoming project that excites you?
DC: I’m doing a large project at the new Atlantis Hotel inDubai. I think it’s going to be stunning.
SH: Do you design installations differently when they aregoing to be outdoors?
DC: Indoor works are usually shown in a very neutral spacewhere all of the emphasis is on the pieces. Outside, the work has to respond tothe exotic plants and the colors that it is set within so I must pay attentionto the setting when I’m designing. I’ve been doing installations in naturalsettings for about five years now and I like them very much.
SH: You seem to be quite in-demand at the moment. Has therhythm of your work become less challenging or more so given that you areproducing so much?
DC: Though we are producing a lot of glass, I am doing about50 installations and eight exhibitions a year now, I feel like the work becomesmore innate the more I do it.
Stephanie Odegard knew early on that she wanted to create abusiness model championing socially responsible ideals. It was in 1980, after a5-year Peace Corps assignment in Fiji, that she made the commitment to helptalented artisans who were largely oppressed. “I was about to leave Fiji when Iwalked into a showroom built by our craftspeople,” she explains. “Everyone wasthere—sitting on grass mats, the men bare-chested with traditional dress andwomen in sarongs, and they had made a traditional feast in my honor withroasted chickens and suckling pigs and dishes wrapped in coconut leaves.”
Odegard was astonished, as this was a very important feastnormally prepared only for very important people and almost always reserved fornatives to the land. “It was incredibly moving to realize that they hadprepared this traditional feast in my honor,” she says. “It was the first timeI truly realized the impact their work could have on people’s lives.”
After Fiji, her desire to help others led her to Nepal andIndia where artisans worked in dire conditions and child labor was the norm.She helped Nepalese weavers design carpets that would be marketable in thewest, and she founded Odegard, Inc., to offer the plush rugs to discerninginterior designers. In India, she contracted with local stone carvers toproduce accessories, ornately carved fireplace mantles and pavilions.
Since that time, the founding member of RugMark, which monitors manufacturersto help prevent child labor, has had great success in changing workingconditions for the better. “There are now more people working, the standards ofliving have been raised, schools have been created within factories, and agreat number of children have been educated through RugMark schools,” sheremarks. “Our suppliers have created clean water standards in facilities andthey have installed the only smoke free boiler in the industry in Nepal.”
Odegard has recently taken her activism a step further by switching herfinances from a traditional banking arrangement to RSF Social Finance, anorganization that divides interest monies between deserving companies doinggood in the world. “It is important to me that we are dealing with sociallyresponsible organizations in so far as possible in our interactions,” she says.“Knowing our interest money is going to socially responsible green and fairtrade companies as well as non-profit organizations, rounds out my goals forbecoming more and more the world citizen I wish to be.”
Running a company that champions green ideals and corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) is incredibly challenging, especially where dealing withthe financial arena is concerned. “The people working in these areas areusually less interested in corporate social responsibility and are moreinterested in the bottom line,” she says. “They tend to create covenants thatare difficult to maintain, and to keep the focus on both social and fiscalresponsibility is always a challenge.”
Odegard’s goals for the future include continuing to defeat negative forces atwork in the poor communities from which she gleans her wares. “We often have towork with self interested and political labor unions that use extortionisttechniques, which prevent us from providing quality, appropriate workingenvironments,” she explains. “Implementing certification strategies andinspection processes are sometimes difficult because local officials are oftennot interested in raising the standards of the poor. We are up against this allthe time.”
See other design stories at www.DesignCommotion.com
Karim Rashid practices what he preaches. His guide for living, released last year, is fittingly titled Design Your Self: Rethinking the Way You Live, Love, Work and Play. In it, the designer advises, “do it with color.”
Having trumped the worlds of product, interior, fashion, furniture and lighting design, Rashid claims he knew his life’s mission at the age of five. “I went sketching with my father in England drawing churches,” Rashid explains. “He taught me to see; taught me that I could design anything and touch all aspects of our physical landscape.”
Rashid’s early memories include drawing a cathedral façade that dissatisfied him, so he redesigned the shape of the windows. “I also remember winning a drawing competition for children,” he remarks. “I drew luggage, expressing my own ideas about how to travel.” This experience could have served as a prophecy for his life, as the designer—who was born in Cairo of Egyptian and English parents, and raised in Canada—spends much of his time circling the globe.
Along with his work in the US, projects take him to Russia, Germany, Athens, France, Italy, Holland, Korea, Denmark, the UK, Sweden, Turkey and Japan. Current endeavors include a clothing store in Moscow, a hotel in Shanghai, a private house in Kuala Lumpur and a café in Serbia. Rashid is also well known for his product design, which currently includes objects as diverse as a vacuum cleaner and credit cards to a line of bath fixtures and chocolates.
Rashid thrives on the stimulation he gains from visiting different countries and he doesn’t mind the time it takes to get from point A to point B. “Generally I am inspired when I am traveling,” he explains. “I love being on planes where I can really focus on projects—I can fill a 100-page sketchpad on a single European flight.”
Concerning the subject of inspiration, he has lots to say. In fact, nothing seems to escape his notice. “I am inspired by every project I have worked on, by every city I have traveled to, by every book I have read, by every art show I have seen, by every song I have heard, and by every smell, taste, sight, sound, and feeling,” he proclaims.
If he is not inspired when he begins a project, he turns it down; if he is intrigued, he begins the design work immediately. “I sketch right after the meeting in a hotel, café, or office,” he explains; “then I keep sketching over and over.” Once he feels his ideas have evolved adequately, he turns them over to his senior staff to develop digitally with 3-d modeling programs.
The list of other visionaries who have influenced Rashid is long and diverse, ranging from Andy Warhol and David Bowie to DJ’s Felix da Housecat and Grandmaster Flash. Film directors Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola are on his list, as are Saarinen, Niemeyer and Noguchi. He broadens his attention to such sweeping influences because he strives to find forms that have never existed. “My interest is to make form as sensual, human, evocative and sculptural as possible,” he says.
Aside from a fascination for form, color is a particular aphrodisiac for the designer. He goes so far as to say it creates a spiritual euphoria in him. “Color is one of the most beautiful phenomena of our existence,” he offers. “For me color is life; a way of dealing with and touching our emotions, our psyches, and our spiritual beings.”
Though he claims he never begins a design with a material in mind, Lucite, acrylic and polyurethane show up so regularly in his repertoire that he has been dubbed “The Poet of Plastics.” With nearly 12,000 polymers—some of which, he points out, can replace 70% of our body parts—it is no wonder the designer is so enamored. “This is an incredible phenomenon and obviously it is our destiny,” he remarks. “Designers shape this world, and the open-mind sees and experiments with the fluidness of plastic.”
A new culture demands new forms, materials and styles claims this self-declared modern thinker, who sees himself as someone who was born to create. “I believe that the new objects that shape our lives are transconceptual, multi-cultural hybrids—objects that can exist anywhere in different contexts,” he says. “Our lives are elevated when we experience beauty, comfort, luxury, performance, and utility seamlessly together.”
In Rashid’s world, a clever design is enough to make him swoon, and it appears that the proverbial box shunned by others when dazzling inspiration strikes never existed in his imagination. “I do not believe that objects should be obstacles in life, but raptures of experience,” he declares. “They lend hope to reshaping our lives.”
