{"id":358762,"date":"2023-08-24T15:47:21","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/karim-rashid-remembers-career-and-use-of-plastic-in-artwork\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T16:57:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T19:57:05","slug":"karim-rashid-remembers-career-and-use-of-plastic-in-artwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/karim-rashid-remembers-career-and-use-of-plastic-in-artwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Karim Rashid remembers career and use of plastic in artwork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barueri \u2013 About to turn 63, Egyptian Karim Rashid (pictured above)<\/em>, one of the most important industrial designers<\/strong> of his generation, was a guest at the 2023 World Plastic Connection Summit, which took place in Barueri in the S\u00e3o Paulo metropolitan area. The artist was the last guest to speak at the event this Tuesday (22). He recalled noteworthy moments in his career and talked about the importance of using plastic<\/strong> in creating his pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI crafted many products with plastic, from small to large scale. I\u2019ve worked with packaging and industrial design, then went through furniture design, wallpapers, floors, and architecture. In all this time, the most important thing for me has always been knowing the suitable material to use in my pieces, which would last longer. I always thought: What can I do to make the product last longer?\u201d asked Rashid.<\/p>\n

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The Egyptian participated in Think Plastic Brazil<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Egyptian said concern for the environment and reuse of materials have been with him since childhood. Born in Cairo, he attended college and lived for many years in Canada, a country that is very strict about recycling.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised to be concerned about the environment. During my degree, I designed products and thought about their entire lifecycle from beginning to end. This care ended up being part of my life, of who I am, of my nature,\u201d says Rashid.<\/p>\n

Despite the importance of the topic, according to Rashid, recycling stopped being something interesting for a few years, especially in the United States, the country where he currently lives. \u201cNo one else talked about it for a while, but now we see it being discussed everywhere; green education is back in the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rashid\u2019s piece: Innovation & connection<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to serving as inputs in creations, recycled items are used whenever the artist is inspired to create. \u201cWhen you sit down and start designing, first of all, you have to think about what you are responsible for doing on that project. Within this thought of responsibility and care for the environment, you must consider which materials you will choose, which production method, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rashid said his current style of work, in addition to being influenced by the environment where he was raised, was also affected by his father, who was a painter. \u201cI was raised at a time when plastic in design was at its peak. My father was an artist and didn\u2019t earn much, so we were a poor family. Even without good financial conditions, we always had beautiful and democratic products, which I was obsessed with,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my father, I always thought good design was not just for the elite or the rich but for everyone. I realized over time the way to make democratic products was by using plastics as a raw material<\/strong>. That was the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Career achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the lecture, Rashid recalled his main professional achievements over his 40-year career. In the 1990s, he dedicated himself to the cosmetics area. Unlike what was done then, the Egyptian created products with multiple functions, including a bottle whose lid could be used as a cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to create products made of polymer because when I work with this material, I can play with it. Twenty years ago, together with Coca-Cola, I made a different bottle. When the seal on the lid was broken, it would release a lemon scent. The idea was for the consumer to smell the fruit before drinking the soda.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rashid was a guest at the event in Brazil<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another item that the Egyptian highlighted during the lecture was a chair produced in 1997, which is still sold today. He decided to make several holes in the creation to use less plastic. \u201cAs we know, what uses less plastic produces less carbon emissions in the atmosphere and uses less energy. So I came up with the idea of making holes in the chair,\u201d said Rashid.<\/p>\n

In the end, in addition to making a valuable product, the designer managed to make a flexible chair that made the user\u2019s blood circulate at a reasonable rate, even when sitting down.<\/p>\n

Evaluating his career path, Rashid said he considers himself a good designer because, in addition to making functional products, he also creates items that generate a connection with consumers. Just as in his childhood, when he connected with the objects in his home, the artist currently provides the same experience to other people.<\/p>\n

In four decades, the artist, who has over 4,000 projects in production and more than 300 awards, has made durable, beautiful, original products that offer real solutions and use less raw inputs.<\/p>\n

Rashid has worked in over 40 countries and said he is available to partner with Brazilian companies.<\/strong> \u201cBrazil is a powerful economy, full of production technology and talented and educated people. Despite this, Brazilian brands are still not very well known worldwide, so they need to improve their approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2023 World Plastic Connection Summit debates occurred this Monday (21) and Tuesday (22). The schedule continues with other activities, such as B2Bs. The event is an initiative of the Think Plastic Brazil program, the National Institute of Plastics (INP), and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil). The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) was one of the event\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n

Special report by Rebecca Vettore for ANBA.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated by El\u00fasio Brasileiro<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An industrial design icon, the Egyptian told how living in Canada made him consider the durability of the materials used in his work. He participated in the 2023 World Plastic Connection Summit in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Barueri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2342,"featured_media":350885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[421,44751,232,29758,44713,44714,44754,44243,44755,44715,5883,44757,5884,44716],"class_list":{"0":"post-358762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-innovation","8":"tag-egypt","9":"tag-2023-world-plastic-connection-summit","10":"tag-brazil","11":"tag-design-en-2","12":"tag-design-industrial","13":"tag-design-plastico","14":"tag-industrial-design","15":"tag-karim-rashid-en-2","16":"tag-karim-rashid-in-brazil","17":"tag-karim-rashid-no-brasil","18":"tag-plastic","19":"tag-plastic-design","20":"tag-recycling","21":"tag-world-plastic-connection-summit-de-2023"},"wps_subtitle":"An industrial design icon, the Egyptian told how living in Canada made him consider the durability of the materials used in his work. He participated in the 2023 World Plastic Connection Summit in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Barueri.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}