Kairo

The year 2009 marks the beginning of the collaboration between the internationally renowned designer Karim Rashid and RIVA 1920. A world preview of this collaboration will be shown at the Milan “Salone Internazionale del Mobile” where Karim Rashid and RI

VA 1920 are presenting their first joint project: KAIRO, a chair in solid fragrant cedar-wood. Reflecting on the experience of designing KAIRO, Karim Rashid says: “When I designed the KAIRO chair for RIVA 1920 I was guided by the woodworking process itse

lf used to produce a piece of furniture from a simple block of wood, with the ’objective of removing the least quantity of wood possible from the trunk. The unusual double-arc form cut into the chair draws its inspiration from my recent trip to Egypt wh

ere I was particularly struck by these lines that seem to conjure up an eye. A line that I found again and again in furniture, in the shape of certain boats carved by hand into the wood and in the symbolism of hieroglyphic writing of the ancient Egyptians

”.