São Paulo – The Egyptian designer Karim Rashid is visiting São Paulo to negotiate projects with Brazilian companies. This Tuesday (30th), after giving a talk at the 41st edition of the House & Gift Fair, at Expo Center Norte, he said he is in Brazil to negotiate partnerships with companies in the country, but did not reveal which ones.
“I have worked with some Brazilian brands in the past, such as [women’s shoe company] Melissa, and I want to negotiate projects with other enterprises,” said the New York-based designer. The companies willing to work with Rashid include brands to which he has developed products in the past.
While the deals do not come through, the designer made use of his visit to the country to speak on the importance of design to conquering new markets. This was the topic of his talk at the House & Gift Fair.
During the talk, Rashid claimed that the use of design in products is recent and became important to companies after World War 2 (1939-1945). “Some companies had design teams to develop their products,” he said.
He believes that the influence of design in the conception of new products increases as competition among companies grows too. “[I] remember that in 1982 companies would make a bad product and people would buy it, because it was the only option. Now, consumers have the power.”
Rashid is the son to an Egyptian father and a British mother. He was born in Cairo, but studied in Canada and Italy. His clients range from clothing brands, such as Ralph Lauren, to automakers, such as Hyundai, and consumer electronics companies, such as Sony. His creations may also be seen in hotel projects, trash bins, spectacles, lighting fixtures and even products by another hyped-up brand: the Italian Prada.
He believes that projects designed by high-profile designers are not necessarily expensive. “Companies often think that whenever they hire a designer to create a product, he will make something expensive that does not work. At times the product may be cheap. Some businessmen are beginning to realize that,” he said.
To Rashid, the products need to meet the people’s demands, be original and identify with the brand. “In the 1940s, whenever we travelled, we would stay in a hotel because a hotel was what most resembled our home when we were far from home. Now, when we go to a hotel, we don’t want things reminiscent of our home. We want it to elicit sensations from us that our home does not,” he said.
Another example mentioned by the designer work is a product line he developed for Prada in 1999. “Nowadays people travel a lot. In developing the cosmetics [packaging] line for Prada, I realized that people would rather carry small product samples than the entire bottle. So we offered small doses. The companies must remain open to the wants and needs of consumers,” he said.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
