karim rashid for domodinamica

‘hotdog’ sofa image © designboom

at milan design week 2010 karim rashid presented his new collection of furniture that he created for italian company domodinamica.

‘hotdog’ sofa image © designboom

karim discusses his ‘hotdog’ sofa and ‘kleer’ chair he designed for the company –

‘the name hotdog first came from the long rounded proportions of the layers from the front view but the name may also suggest the slang interpretation of the word meaning a ‘risk taker’ or ‘one that boasts’. domodinamica have always been risk takers creating avant-garde objects so I wanted to contribute in this manner. maybe I should have called it hamburger because of the layers! the concept derived from the idea of a sofa with different layers of cushions with one layer that was split and swung out to create armrests making it work both for 2 people or 3 which seems to be something to boast about. 4 tiers of rounded cushions allow multiple color combinations adding a graphic element to its surroundings. the soft forms are engaging, playful, comfortable and dynamic.’

karim rashid lies on ‘hotdog’

rendering of ‘hot dog’ sofa

‘kleer’ monolithic lounge in curved transparent glass mm. 15

‘kleer – I always wanted to create a chair of glass – to make the ultimate notion of lightness, a transparent floating immaterial vestige. I have designed several plexiglas chairs over the years and polycarbonate chairs but was always hoping to create a glass chair. but to enhance the sense of immateriality I also wanted to add new technology to the product, so I created a wing-like lounge with geometric planar surfaces supporting 2 flat technology speakers, so the chair not only speaks about visual transparency but audio ethereality. listening to music in space kleen, kalm, collected :)’ – karim rashid

side view

front view

karim rashid sits on his ‘kleer’ chair