Last week I attended a lecture by karim Rashid as part of AIGA SF’s design lecture series. (This year’s series has also featured Number 17 from NY, and Davy Rothbart of Found magazine) Karim was introduced by Eric Ryan, the founder of Method cleaning products, who sought out Karim to design his first line of dish soaps. Clad in his trademark white garb, Karim jumped right into his talk, pacing the stage with photos of his work playing on the screen behind him. His utter fascination with life and design was infectious, and sustained his nearly two-hour lecture about his approach, philosophies, and projects.
A few of his more memorable topics included his concept for a re-design for an airplane interior (thin, aeron-like mesh chairs, parachutes, LED seat labels specific to each passenger…), the de-materialization of mass-market consumer goods (well-designed cardboard cellphones), and the questioning of the ultimate status-quo of bathrooms (‘why do we persist in designing the room in which we are most vulnerable -naked- to also be the hardest in the home?’). Excellent.
I also finally picked up a copy of Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind. Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future. In one section he lists a few excerpts from Mr. Rashid’s “Karimifesto,” a fifty-point guide to life and design:
1. Don’t specialize
5. Before giving birth to anything physical, ask yourself if you have created and original idea, an original concept, if there is any real value in what you disseminate.
6. Know everything about the history of your profession and then forget it all when you design something new.
7. Never say “I could have done that” because you didn’t.
24. Consume experiences, not things.
33. Normal is not good.
38. There are 3 types of beings – those who create culture, those who buy culture, and those who don’t give a shit about culture. Move between the first two.
40. Think extensively, not intensively.
43. Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.
50. HERE AND NOW IS ALL WE GOT.
Word.