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Karim Rashid / Hotel Designers / Prizeotels / German Hotels / Design Hotels / → All Tags

The Prizeotel Was an Experiment in 'Designocracy' for Karim Rashid

Where: Theodor-Heuss-Allee 12, Bremen, Germany, 28215

It's been a long, long time since we checked in on the prolific "Designer, DJ, Hotelier, Self Proclaimed World Changer" Karim Rashid but after we posted the Prizeotel's charming LipDup video yesterday, the hotel responded to us on Twitter, letting us know that Rashid is the man behind their hotel design. Prizeotel pointed us to this statement on their website where Rashid sums up his intention for Prizeotel:

prizeotel was a project in ‘Designocrasy’: high design affordable to all. Design is not for the elite or the rich. I have always wanted to design a very inexpensive hotel and prizeotel brought the opportunity! The concept had to be very smart and economical yet pleasurable and inspiring.

I maximized choices and used high performance materials and furnishings to have the greatest impact for the least amount of investment.

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Snapshots / W Hotels / Karim Rashid / Hotel Fashion / → All Tags

Snapshot: 'Karim the White' Rashid Returns, in Pink!

The other night when we popped into the W Westwood we noticed two of these odd looking Barbie-esque sculptures just outside the NineThirty restaurant.

Turns out these sculptures are actually pink loveseats inspired by the French loveseats of the 18th century when men and women were not allowed to sit facing the same direction. But more shocking is that they were created by none other than designer-hotelier and lover of all things white, Karim Rashid.

As part of a Veuve Cliquot promotion, Rashid, know for his love of all things white, added a special champagne bottle bucket and a small table to set down glasses. Rashid's endorsement:

It is a festive bubbly celebration of a great pink champagne, my favourite, Veuve Clicquot.

The loveseat is in the hotel for a few more weeks before it heads on to its next venue.

MORE pictures of interesting W Westwood displays after the jump.

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Hotel News / Design Hotels / England Hotels / Karim Rashid / → All Tags

Karim Rashid Designs the Future for myhotel

Where: Jubilee Street, Brighton, United Kingdom

Karim Rahid, aka, Karim the White, has seen the future of hotels, and it involves the ghost of Freddie Mercury, Maharishi, and Britney Spears on a rotating bed. Well, maybe not Britney, but we can't help but think Rashid at least chuckled when he read this.

Super hip myhotel chain in Britain already has two hotels up and running: myhotel Bloomsbury "where east meets west" and much more intriguingly, myhotel Chelsea where "Sex and the City meets Brideshead Revisited". So it's with more than a little anticipation that we wait for the new myhotel Brighton to get up and running, which should be sometime during the winter.

The word is that myhotel Brighton will be something like "Freddie Mercury meets the Maharishi" and the rumor is that some of the rooms will have round ends. Cool. On top of that, the beds will be something special:

Designs for the hotel's bedrooms are believed to include centrally positioned rotating beds with integral writing desks.

We are sure Yahoo! employees are already lining up to book a room. Pity we have to wait a few months longer.

myhotel Bloomsbury photo this way.

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Karim Rashid / Athens Hotel Reviews / → All Tags

Karim the White Invents the Kone

Where: 48 Charilaou Trikoupi Str., Athens, Greece

Worldchanging designer Karim Rashid is at it again. Last night we spotted him hawking his new Dirt Devil Kone--it is the new shape of clean y'all.  

Of course, the design guru was dressed in his trademark white suite for the Dirt Devil spot, which eerily reminded us of the Dyson vacuum ads.

While Karim toils in the Dirt Devil lab, across the globe at his Semiramis Hotel Athens, some question his choice of palette. A recent French guest critiques Semiramis (read the following tip in a Jean Girard over-the-top accent for added amusement):

We are big fan of design hotel, however this one is not what we like. I will recommend visiting the hotel for those who are interested in interior design. You should see it but not stay in. The bright colour are a bit too much after a couple of hours, specially in the restaurant it almost made me feel seek.

It is good to know that even if the Semiramis makes some guests "seek", Karim will always have the Kone as his fall back.

Related Stories:
·Karim Rashid Coverage [HotelChatter]
·Semiramis Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]

Hotels / Karim Rashid / Turkey Hotel Reviews / → All Tags

You Like To Watch Don't You?

Where: Konyaalt, Antalya, Turkey

When Karim Rashid, self proclaimed world changer, wearer of all white all the time, and now, hotelier, goes hotel shopping, we are guessing the Hillside Su is near the top of his list.

Hillside Su is an all-white design hotel on Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast. The hotel boasts cordless phones, a balcony with a sofa, a bar with "a range of booze", and mood lighting. Yup, that's right, when you check-in to Hillside Su you will be asked to choose between pink, white, or red mood lighting for your room. Oh, and each room is equipped with big giant mirrors on the wall. Whaa, Chicka, Whaa, Whaa.

Furthermore, the television in your room comes with a 24 hour channel showing the lobby, swimming pool, and deck areas. Hmmm. You don't think those hotel cameras are also behind those big in-room mirrors do you?

Wait, haven't we seen this set up before? Anyone remember Sliver? That terrible movie with Sharon Stone and the Baldwin who recently found religion.

Hoteliers / Karim Rashid / → All Tags

Karim Rashid: Designer, DJ, Hotelier, Self Proclaimed World Changer

We just received some info on a new hotel in Athens Greece called Semiramis.  Unfortunately, we can't get to the hotel website right now.  Maybe it is our connection, but it appears that "visionary designer" Karim Rashid may need a lesson in web design.  

Despite the fact that we are going to wait on the hotel info, we wanted to whet you appetite for the self proclaimed "world changer" and now hotel designer, Karim Rashid.

These quotes should do the trick:

On the fact that titling a book "I want to change the world" is just a touch vain: "Now if I was Eminem and I said, 'I want to change the world', then nobody would have a problem, but, in actual fact, the artist's agenda is to change the world. A lot of the products I've designed have sold in millions, meaning that people like my work. So I don't really need to be judged by the design community."

On his now current, and upcoming hotel projects:

If I tell you that then someone is going to design and put out a hotel before me, so I won't go into all the details. But a very obvious thing is that the space around you is not just about cool furniture, or about the right colour or the right carpet. The whole physical experience will be at ease. So, for example, there will be automated things in the bathroom; lights that are controlled via voice recognition; no sharp corners anywhere."

Wouldn't it have been quicker for Karim to say "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."  This guy is an absolute prize.  Still not sold?  Here are some fun facts about hotel designer Karim:

·   Since the millennium (the fake one in 2000 not the real one in 2001) Karim has only worn white.

·   Apparently, Karim is a DJ extraordinaire and can be hired out as such on occasion. Rashid is working on new hotels in England for MyHotel, a boutique hotel chain across the pond.

Related Stories:
·   I want to change the world [Guardian]