Kountess Vase by Karim Rashid for Purho

Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960, Karim Rashid was raised in England and Canada. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Design from Carleton University in Ottowa, Canada in 1982. He went on to pursue graduate design studies in Italy under Ettore Sottsass and others before moving to Milan to work for a year at the Rodolfo Bonetto Studio. In 1993, Rashid opened his own studio in New York City, where he continues to live and work today. He has taught design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pratt Institute in New York, RISD in Providence, Rhode Island, and at the Ontario College of Art. He has also lectured at a variety of schools.

Rashid is a prolific designer; his studio asserts that he currently has over 3000 designs in production. His work is characterized by a playful, sometimes sensual, elegance and minimalism. Rashid's design repertoire spans luxury goods, mass produced pieces, furniture, lighting, interiors, high-tech objects, packaging, and brand identities. His clients include Issey Miyake, Tommy Hilfiger, Sony, Zanotta, Citibank, Alessi, Audi, Kenzo, Hugo Boss, Artemide, Method, Morimoto restaurant (Philadelphia), and nhow hotel (Berlin). Rashid has been honored with numerous awards, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s Designer of the Year (1998), the Daimler Chrysler Award (1999), and the silver IDEA Award for his design Oh Chair (1999). Rashid also holds honorary doctorates from the OCAD, Toronto and Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington.

Purho was founded by Andrea Dotto in 2012 with the ambition of merging the traditional craftsmanship of hand-blown Murano glass with the tastes and aesthetics of contemporary design.

Achieved in an artful symphony of color, iridescence, and transparency, Purho works with a carefully chosen selection of exemplary designers. The brand presents a collection of vases, lighting pieces, glasses, and bowls that celebrate a dance between the light that the translucence of glass allows and vibrant pops of color in hues of orange, blue, red and pink.

Based on the notion of creating ‘fairy-tale’ objects that are realized by master glaziers in Murano, Purho’s pieces may be functional but they could also easily be perceived as works of art. The vases by Karim Rashid, in particular, look like sculptures—shining feats of balance, color, and form. And while each piece created by Purho is a fine example of serious Italian craftsmanship, they also exude a lightness, sense of fun, and charm.