Eight icons of design have joined forces with Orange22 Design Lab to launch the firm’s Blank Canvas Project: Botanist Designer Series Benches. Super high-profile designers, including Yves Behar, Karim Rashid, Milton Glaser and Massimo Vignelli, have created new editions of Orange22’s indoor-outdoor, eco-friendly Botanist furniture.

Botanist Designer Series Benches

Orange22’s original Botanist line features intricate surface patterns cut with water-jet technology. Each sleek, metal form begins its life as a Blank Canvas.

Above: the “Blank Canvas”

“We designed the structures to be strong and versatile enough to sustain any pattern we could imagine,” says Orange 22 founder Dario Antonioni. “Now, the industry’s most celebrated designers will do the dreaming. Consumers are embracing design more and more each year and now with the Blank Canvas program they purchase furniture products with the knowledge that they too will be making a difference.”

2008 Blank Canvas Participants:

Botanist matches each designers royalty to a foundation or charity of their choice. Pictured below is each bench and the designer’s choice of charity.

Yves Behar – Fuse Project, San Francisco – for the Surfrider Foundation:

Margo Chase – Chase Design Group, Los Angeles – for the Sierra Club:

Milton Glaser – Milton Glaser, Inc., New York – for International Rescue:

Kahi Lee – Kahi Lee Lifestyle, Los Angeles for the Cancer Research Institute:

Karim Rashid – Karim Rashid, Inc., New York for DIFFA:

Joe Ricchio – Ricchio Design, Seal Beach for DIFFA:

Massimo & Lella Vignelli – Vignelli Associates, New York for R.I.T.:

Claude Zellweger – One & Co, San Francisco- Architecture for Humanity:

The Designer Signing and Silent Auction of the above benches was held in NYC on May 18th, 2008. But unsigned versions are for sale in various sizes where Botanist benches are sold (google them).

About Orange 22:
Founded by Dario Antonioni in 2000, the Los Angeles based design lab creates and fabricates mass-market and limited-edition objects and furniture, brand-defining retail environments, residential interiors and design concepts licensed for mass production. The studio furniture has exhibited at the most prestigious international design shows in New York, Paris, Cologne and Milan.

Orange22
125 West 4th St. #102
Los Angeles CA 90013

The Botanist Designer Series site.