São Paulo – The renowned Egyptian designer Karim Rashid will be in São Paulo next week to participate in meetings with businessmen of the plastic industry, give a talk at the Gift Fair and teach a master class to students of the Belas Artes University Centre. Rashid does design in various fields, from shoes to furniture.
The designer is coming to the country by invitation of the Export Plastic Program, coordinated by the National Plastic Institute (INP) and supported by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex). The intention is to provide support the businessmen on the importance of design when it comes to exporting.
“More than generating business, we want Brazilian businessmen in the plastic processing industry to create mechanisms as part of a strategy for sustained exports,” said Marco Wydra, the executive manager of Export Plastic, in a statement issued by the program.
Rashid’s schedule starts on Monday (29th) with a talk at the 44th Gift Fair, for gifts and household utensils. At the event, he will discuss the importance of design as a competitive differential for conquering international markets. On Tuesday (30th), he will attend a meeting with Brazilian businessmen at the INP headquarters, where he will address the same topic. The class at Belas Artes University Centre will also be held on Tuesday.
Rashid is the author of projects in partnership with companies in more than 35 different countries. During his meeting with the Brazilian businessmen, he will discuss his work in plastic products and point out the main trends for the next few years.
“We have very successful experiences of businessmen who have placed their bets on design. The meeting with Karim Rashid will encourage our associates and serve as an example of how design may influence the growth of sales in the domestic realm and most of all internationally speaking,” says Gilberto Agrello, the Market Development specialist of the Export Plastic Program.
The designer
Time Magazine has called Karim Rashid the “Prince of Plastic,” a material that he has used in his work for several years now. With over 3,000 products in his portfolio, the Egyptian has established partnerships with companies such as Sony, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Carolina Herrera and Hyundai.
In Brazil, he has been involved with products of the brands Melissa, ViaLight and Brastemp, among others. Karim’s works are featured in 20 permanent collections, among them those of the MoMA, in New York, and Centre Pompidou, in Paris, as well as in exhibitions at art galleries around the world. Among the prizes he has been awarded, the highlights are the Red Dot, the IF Design Award, the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award, the ID Magazine Annual Design Review and the IDSA Industrial Excellence.
Brazilian exports
In the household utilities industry, companies affiliated with the Export Plastic Program have recorded a 25% increase in exports in the first half this year, as against the same period of last year. In 2011, 5,000 tonnes of processed plastics were shipped, as against 4,000 tonnes in 2010. The increase caused a 29% rise in revenues, which went from US$ 22.5 million to US$ 29 million.
In 2010, Brazilian plastic processing industry exports reached 310,000 tonnes , according to the Brazilian Plastics Industry Association (Abiplast). The growth forecast for this year is 10%, at 340,000 tonnes shipped. In the last few years, the share of companies affiliated with the Export Plastic Program in the industry’s exports reached 31.1%. The target is to attain a 35.6% share in 2011.
Service
Talk by Karim Rashid
44th Gift Fair
August 29th at 02:00 pm
Expo Center Norte
José Bernardo Pinto Street, 333 – São Paulo
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
