"Today we are dealing with a society based on experience," says Karim Rashid, "so objects need to blur experience with form."

Rashid's avenue for integrating products with experience is a philosophy he terms "Sensual Minimalism," design that communicates and inspires without excess. Objects, for Rashid, should be "de-stressers," helping to bring pleasure to a complicated world. The Cairo-born Canadian industrial designer has brought this theory into practice with a series of products that combine an artistic sensibility with a real-world pragmatism, from curvilinear polypropylene "Garbo" wastebaskets and "Oh" stackable chairs for Umbra to snow shovels for Black & Decker. The products designed by Rashid have reached millions of consumers, while managing to garner critical acclaim.

In addition to overseeing his own practice, Rashid is an associate professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has taught at a variety of institutions. He has also received a number of awards for his designs, including the 1999 George Nelson Award, a Silver IDEA Award (for the "Oh" chair), and a "Best of Category" recognition in I.D. Magazine's annual design review. In 1998 he was chosen as "Young Designer of the Year" by the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Karim Rashid's designs reside in the permanent collections of various institutions, including the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He plans to continue enriching the experience of products, at the same time critiquing the overabundance of merely adequately designed products. "I want to design something that ups the ante."