28 April 2008

Not so Blank Canvas

Blank Canvas, an eco-friendly project involving eight icons of design. Collaborate, create, and give back...responsible design.

Eight icons of design have joined forces with Orange22 Design Lab to launch the firm’s Blank Canvas Project.

All of the super high-profile designers, including Yves Behar and Kamin Rashid, have created a new edition of Orange22’s indoor-outdoor, eco-friendly Botanist furniture.

Orange22, which is preparing to unveil the new iconic designs at the California Furniture Fair on May 17 – 20, has committed to matching each designers royalty to a social cause of their choice.

“When we began thinking about the BotanistTM Blank Canvas project two years ago, we knew we wanted to produce more than furniture. Botanist is about entrusting our colleagues – each of whom we admire, to do what they love and give back in the process. Botanist is simply a unique business model that serves as a catalyst to empower design for positive change,” says Dario Antonioni, founder of Orange22.

Botanist is a winning formula, because while the project will no doubt produce breathtaking furniture, it will also effect positive social change. 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.

“We designed the structures to be strong and versatile enough to sustain any pattern we could imagine,” says 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.”

BotanistTM was launched in 2007 by Orange22 Design Lab, an award winning design studio in Downtown Los Angeles.

THIS YEARS 2008 BLANK CANVAS PARTICIPANTS

Yves Behar   - Fuse Project, San Francisco
Margo Chase   - Chase Design Group, Los Angeles
Milton Glaser   - Milton Glaser, Inc., New York
Kahi Lee    - Kahi Lee Lifestyle, Los Angeles
Karim Rashid   - Karim Rashid, Inc., New York
Joe Ricchio   - Ricchio Design, Seal Beach
Massimo & Lella Vignelli - Vignelli Associates, New York
Claude Zellweger   - One & Co, San Francisco

www.orange22.com

Hero Image: Joe Ricchio's design

Below image: Massimo & Lella Vignelli's design