-By Katie Weeks

The seeds for Orange22's Botanist™ Blank Canvas Project first took root in 2006. For six years, Dario Antonioni and his team at the Los Angeles-based design lab Orange22 had worked on a range of design-oriented initiatives, from fabricating mass-market and limited edition objects and furniture to designing retail and other interior environments. They wanted, however, to do more.

"We wanted to produce more than furniture. We wanted to create innovative, iconic outdoor/indoor furniture that also has the ability to give back," recalls Antonioni. "We sought to build a product that would live indefinitely and be socially responsible."

This concept planted the seed for what would grow into the Botanist Blank Canvas Project. Much like a blank canvas awaiting an artist's creation, Orange22 provides a template for its Botanist line of indoor/outdoor seating—comprised of a cocktail table, end table, and bench—upon which a select group of designers then custom designs surface patterns. In conjunction with their creations, each participating designer chooses an individual charity or foundation to which Orange22 donates a match of that designer's royalty.

The concept first debuted during New York's Design Week in the spring of 2007, and, encouraged by the response, this year Antonioni selected eight participants. The final lineup resembles a who's who of the industrial design, graphic design, and interior design realms: Yves Behar, Margo Chase, Milton Glaser, Kahi Lee, Karim Rashid, Joseph Ricchio, Massimo and Lella Vignelli, and Claude Zellweger.

With a tight turnaround—participants were given only one month to germinate their ideas in order to debut the line at the 2008 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF)—the design process was purposely streamlined. Each participant received templates for the three pieces—the end table, cocktail table, and bench are all crafted from 1/4-in.-thick aluminum alloy sheets—upon which they could put their creative stamp. The frame of each piece is cut using automated water-jet cutting technology, which streamlines the process while still providing a blank canvas for graphic customization.

Other than the overall form restrictions and some guidelines regarding structural details, designers are given free range in their creations, and the 2008 results, which are now available for purchase, are as varied as a bouquet of spring flowers. Behar, for example, started with the idea of a burst of creativity and reduced the pattern of an explosion to square pixels, while Chase, who recently learned to fly, chose to interpret the freedom of flight through biomorphic and abstract bird-like shapes. True to their graphic design foundations, Glaser, the Vignellis, and Zellweger played with typography and type justification.

Just as wide ranging are the charitable organizations chosen to receive donations from Orange22 that match each designer's royalty. Lee's piece benefits the Cancer Research Institute, whose endeavors in researching cancer treatment and prevention is interpreted through her design. Dubbed "Unlock the Cure," Lee's work features a hodgepodge of different sized keys representing the search for the key to the cure. Both Rashid and Ricchio chose to benefit Design Industry Fighting Aids (DIFFA), with Ricchio naming his piece—which features a delicate branch dripping dew to celebrate earth, water, and life—after Larry Pond, a founder of DIFFA and a former professor who introduced Ricchio's first chair.

Given the success of this year's collection and the waiting list of future participants, Antonioni sees many fruitful collaborations ahead. Current offerings will be available indefinitely, adding on to the collection with each new crop of participants in the years to come.