Umbra's GARBINO trash can garners permanent spot at The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Umbra is pleased to announce that The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Architecture and Design is including the award-winning GARBINO trash can, designed by Karim Rashid and produced by Umbra, in its permanent collection in New York.

Umbra debuted the Garbino Trash Can in 1996, along with the larger Garbo Can and the smaller Garbini Can. This was the first family of products designed for Umbra by Karim Rashid. Known for its swerving rim, flowing curves and negative spaces, the Garbino brought glamour to trash cans. The Garbino, with a 10-quart capacity, remains a key part of Umbra's line; it is a core product that each year introduces Umbra's newest colors.

"Karim Rashid’s Garbino trash can is wildly successful because it’s an almost perfect design… It’s highly functional -- it has handles built in and is shaped so that trash goes in and out easily. But the first thing most people notice about the Garbino is that it looks and feels great," commented Virginia Postrel, author of The Substance of Style: How the Growth of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness, in an interview with BoxesandArrows.com.

The GARBINO Trash Can has become one of Umbra's best-selling products over the company's 25-year history and is a design icon. "GARBINO proves that product can be thoughtfully and beautifully designed and also be a commercial success," says Paul Rowan, Umbra's co-founder and VP Design.

"When Paul Rowan first asked me to study wastebaskets in 1994," Karim Rashid recalls, "the ubiquitous plastic wastebasket on the market was a rectangular black can with absolutely no character, and there was little alternative.

"I thought that banal objects need life, they need presence, but they also need to make awful tasks more pleasant," he continues. "The scoop top prevented you from touching the garbage when picking it up, and the rounded inside double wall bottom prevented coffee and other liquids from getting caught in the interior. We used recycled polypropylene in various colors to give a lightness, an ephemerality to the object – to make it sensual, to float it, to de-stress a chore, to add color, simplicity and sensuality to one's space."

"The Department of Architecture and Design of The Museum of Modern Art was established in 1932 and is the world's first curatorial department devoted to architecture and design,” says MoMA’s website. “Built on the recognition that architecture and design are allied and interdependent arts, that synthesis has been a founding premise of the collection. Providing an extensive overview of modernism, the collection covers major movements of the twentieth century and contemporary issues. The design collection comprises more than 3,000 objects, ranging from appliances, furniture, and tableware to tools, textiles, sports cars -- even a helicopter. Of the millions of objects produced each year, only a tiny fraction are eligible to be included in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York."

Umbra is extremely proud that one of the world’s most recognized museums has chosen to recognize the quality and design of Umbra products.

Umbra is the worldwide leader in casual, contemporary, affordable design for the home. The company's products are available at over 8,000 retailers in more than 70 countries. Umbra's award-winning design team – 22 men and women from all over the world and notable outside product designers – create products for every room. They remain the heart and soul of the company, whose offices worldwide now house more than 450 people.