Karim Rashid - Copycat Designer?  

I always felt that USA had a...
I always felt that USA had a need for an American version of Philip Starck - and that was the reason why Mr Rashids designs have been so heavily promoted... unfortunately, not even closely as clever as Starck (in his haydays) and many many years to late (btw - who buys Starck anymore anyway? His Salif Juicer - "worldfamous design icon" does not even fit over a regular glass....)

Canadian
Unfortunately Karim is not American ..
He is Canadian. Maybe he can get American citizenship and we Canadians can breathe easier ...

Actually Rashid annoys me...
Actually Rashid annoys me less than Starck... they both have a similar obnoxious asthetic, but where Rashid at least seems to put some effort into designing and fabricating something "whimsical" and utterly derivative, Starck usually opts to merely combine two recognizable objects of dissimilar form, or worse, just fabricate something mundane in contrary materials... I view them both as pop stars who make bad music- Rashid composes his and Starck just samples like a DJ...

Good observation decoboy. I...
Good observation decoboy. I think they are both horrible designers because they do very little "hands on" when it comes to the finished products. Though used by many professionals, I've heard that these two do all their work on computers - creating little to no physical prototypes - and often simply speak an idea and leave it to their crews to figure out the specs. of making it exist. They should feel ashamed and as consumers we should be ashamed of accepting it as good design and holding their names in high regard.
...steps off soapbox.

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* wild applause; clapping, hissing, etc *