The 2009 Designers in Residence programme has been extended and enhanced to offer each designer an opportunity to engage and participate across all areas of the museums programme. The new format will run from September to March and the first two designers will take up their residency during London Design Festival in September and the remaining three designers will reveal their work in January 2010.
During this period the five designers will host activities and events throughout the museum enabling them to develop key skills and networks.
Installations will be placed around the ground floor of the museum and will include a display that resembles a gaming environment, allowing visitors to view themselves as a virtual character in a real space. The Design Museum Tank will showcase a collection of native British plants presented using the unique technique of plastination. The museum café will be furnished with functional furniture made from recycled mass-produced material and the Farm Factory will convert the Atrium into a studio space and design salon to debate and reveal the hidden processes that link design, manufacturing and consumption.
Now in its third year, Designers in Residence supports the selected designers at an early stage of their career, allowing them to build on their current design practice and develop new or existing work.
Designers in Residence is funded by Esmée Fairbairn, this year’s final five designers are: Asif Khan, Bethan Wood, Dave Bowker, Marc Owens, and the design collective Farm consisting of the designers Giles Miller, Alexena Cayless, Sebastian Hejna and Guy Brown. The residents will blog their journey, experience and thoughts as they create their installations.
Design Museum Director, Deyan Sudjic comments “the new format for Designers in Residence will allow the Design Museum to showcase new talent whilst also engaging them within the museum programme, the residency is a great opportunity to celebrate young designers at the early stages of their careers”.
This series of installations is an opportunity for the Design Museum to showcase and champion emerging talent within the field of design. Each resident has been selected by the Design Museum, a procedure which stretched the length and breadth of Britain.
