Egyptian-born, New York based designer Karim Rashid has designed everything from chairs to vacuum cleaners for the world's biggest corporations. Now, he wants to bring about a new age of intellectual nirvana he dubs "nutopia".

Chances are, if you've ever made coffee, thrown paper into a dustbin, sat on a chair or chewed on a ballpoint pen, you will have come into contact with the designer's star products. This man has his finger in every pie, and is proud of it. "I've always believed a designer should be broad because each typology has a wealth of inspiration".

Born in North Africa to Irish-English-Algerian and Egyptian parentage, Rashid grew up and trained in Canada, Paris, Rome and London. In 1993, he established his own studio in Manhattan - where he is still largely based - by way of teaching and design stints in Canada.

Trans-cultural already by birth and education, Rashid continued to magnify this heritage by soon becoming one of the most sought-after designers of his time, creating products for multinational names such as Alessi, Umbra, Samsung, Prada, Estee Lauder, Fauchon and Deutsche Bank. His growing list of clients reaches the hundreds, and his repertoire of patented products numbers several thousand around the world.

After cold-calling about 100 companies for work, his first big break came when he was hired by a relatively unknown US firm called Nambe. Karim's first collection for the company sold for about US$30 million, and established his credentials.

He describes his style as "sensual minimalism", where one concentrates on he subject matter of the object rather than its form.

Today, Rashid gets five design proposals a week from around the world, but his choices have nothing to do with money.

"I'd pick a project based on three criteria: it must allow for innovation and be in an area that needs innovation; also, I need to believe in the agenda of the company."

Speaking of emerging trends in Asia - one hot sector where new frontiers and, more importantly, emerging markets, are developing, Rashid muses, "The Asian mindset is quite precise, very disciplined, rigorous and smart. Design is also booming in China and India. The whole world needs to be designed and Asian culture is playing a key role in this evolution of a contemporary world.

This is the omnipresent new age in which we live. More choice, more exposure, more information, more exchange, so that we become an ever-vast single world! Hopefully one day we will have one peaceful place, one religion, and a positive creative intellectual future. A Nutopia."