A huge crowd showed up last night for Karim Rashid's free lecture at OCAD. I was among the late-arriving 200 or so who were relegated to the overflow room to watch it on TV. Overall, Rashid was funny, engaging and inspiring but things really got interesting when the subject of Toronto design came up.

It turns out a short while ago Rashid was in Cologne for a similar lecture and the mayor of that city showed up, gave a speech and announced Cologne would be creating a new position for a Minister of Design. Flash forward to last night. Where's the mayor? Where's the city of Toronto's commitment to design?

It's hard to fault Rashid for being a little bitter. Here we have one of the most sought after and accomplished industrial designers in the world, and in his own back yard he's basically ignored by those who hold the power and the purse strings.