Design Your Self



What a thoroughly intriguing idea.

Karim Rashid is an industrial designer whose clients include Prada, Nambe, Issey Miyake, Umbra and Alessi. He is perhaps better known for designing the widely popular Umbra wastebasket named Garbo (a play on Greta Garbo and Garbage). It's an elegant, fully functional piece with a sexy, rounded swooping shape. As one critic put it, "Karim built a better trash can and the world beat a path to his door."

I love this guy. I love his designs. I love the fact that he thought that hey, just as I can design furniture, so can I design and shape a better, more enlightened world.

Most of Karim's ideas are not rocket science. They're actually quite simple and doable, if you care enough to sit still and think for a minute.

Here's his take on food and eating. Personally I think it's all one needs to know:

Think before you eat.
Your body is a temple.
Don't starve.
Common sense + moderation.
Be an educated consumer.
Quality vs. Quantity.
Eat locally.
Set the table.
Sit down.
Converse.

I'm still not finished with the book but already very excited to put some ideas into practice. Perhaps gradually and not in the manner of the Take No Prisoners New Year's Resolution.

Rethinking the way you live, love, work and play. It's never too late. So how about it?

Skin Food

Our heater’s been on the fritz lately and it’s really killing me. In the height of December-January, the coldest months of the year – the heater decides to go on sick leave. Good grief!

So for now it’s all about quick showers, preferably 8 minutes or less. I really hate it since I consider bathing a de-stressing ritual. Nowadays it’s more distressing than anything.

Laugh all you want but I have my quirks when it comes to bath and body care. After a long, hectic day I take refuge in the bathroom and go for a long, hot shower. Hopefully if I’m not too tired, I can run a bath. Have you tried soaking and reading in the bath tub? Luxurious and indulgent. Absolutely fantastic. And here’s my little secret: I like bath products that are inspired by food.

I’m a massive fan of Bath and Body Works and hoard their stuff like there’s no tomorrow. I adore their bath gels, lotions, body washes, scrubs, etcetera. I’m currently loving the rich, silky lather of the Coconut Lime Verbena bath gel and plan to move on to White Tea and Ginger. Mostly I crave Bath and Body Work’s Tutti Dolci line. Wouldn’t you? They have the yummiest food concoctions for the skin. Top picks include Mango Sorbetto and Sugar Wafer. Seductive sweet scents you almost want to eat.

Another big favorite is the store Fruits and Passion. I first encountered this in Hongkong and was so excited for the opening of the Manila store that I was front and center on their first day in Greenbelt 3. Fruits and Passion carries the killer Cucina line featuring heady scents from the kitchen (you don’t say…). I love their Ginger and Sicilian Lemon hand lotion and dig this… they have scented candles that are inspired by chocolate, cappuccino, fresh milk, strawberries. I can’t really tell if this is good for the diet brigade or it will leave them wanting more (preferably the real kind too).

Gal pal Ines gave me lotion called Skin Food. It elicited a smile. How food surrounds me, in the table and out.

Meanwhile I can’t wait for the Jett Heater guys to get the crazy thing to work again…