Karim Rashid was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960; half-English, half Egyptian and raised mostly in Canada. He received a Bachelor of Industrial Design in 1982 from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada andwent on to pursue his graduate design studies in Naples, Italy, with Ettore Sottsass and others. On his return to Canada, he worked for seven years with KAN Industrial Designers. While at KAN, he also co-founded and designed the Babel Fashion Collection and North from 1985-91. He opened his own practice in New York City in 1993.
Karim Rashid has won many awards and prizes such as the Industrial Designers Society of America Gold Winner in Furniture in 2001 and ID Magazine 44th Annual Review, Design Distinction in 3 categories in 1998 and he lectures in design in many prestigious universities all over the world.
