The Willy Wonka of design, Rashid has thousands of creations to his name, including the Bobble bottle (the curvaceous vessel that filters water on the go), the digital Jak wristwatch for Alessi, and the brightly coloured Garbo bin for Umbra (with sales topping eight million). Born in Cairo to an Egyptian father and English mother, and raised in Toronto, he has designed concept stores for Giorgio Armani in New York and Paris, bags for Issey Miyake, and an avant-garde metro station in Naples. Based in Midtown Manhattan with homes also in Milan, Miami, Belgrade and Toronto, he spends half the year on the move and has notched up 126 countries; on his birthday he gets abstract tattoos representing cities that have influenced him (23 to date). Rashid is always immaculately turned out, often in a hot-pink and white suit he designed himself (on the website mysuit.com) with rose-tinted Alain Mikli glasses (he owns 50 pairs). He says he can fill a 100-page sketchbook on a short flight - which has resulted in tables for BoConcept and his first fashion collection, launching next year. In his bags are Mount Hagen organic fair-trade instant coffee pouches, RXBAR protein bars, Parrot Zik wireless noise-cancelling headphones (mostly electronic music), and a soundproof balaclava-style Ostrich Pillow neck cushion. Recent and current projects include the futuristic Magic Hotel in Bergen, psychedelic condos in Miami, and restaurants in Doha and Tangier. Holidays are not a time to rest: he goes for hard-core workouts at Amansala in Tulum. And when he's not on the treadmill, he might be on the decks, mixing Drunken Sailor by Antientertainers and Like a Machine by The Emperor Machine.
This feature first appeared in Condé Nast Traveller January/February 2017