Celebrating new and emerging design talent, the Design Museum's annual Designers in Residence program supports designers at an early stage in their career. Now in its fifth year, the residency demonstrates the museums commitment to showcasing and supporting the next generation of design talent.

The finalists were asked to explore the idea of economy and resourcefulness in an object, an environment or an experience while designing their works.

Selected via open-call, this years residents are: Freyja Sewell, Harry Trimble and Oscar Medley-Whitfield, Lawrence Lek and Yuri Suzuki.

As part of the residency, the designers will become involved in the Museum’s learning activities and ‘talks’ program. They will also assist with curating the museum’s late night openings.

Here’s a look at the 2012 Designers in Residence and their backgrounds:

Freyja Sewell’s residency will investigate the potential of wool fibers produced as a by-product of the British carpet industry. Sewell will explore the merits of wool as a sustainable material, using it to create a variety of furniture designs. Graduating with a degree in 3D Design from Brighton University, she has been selected as a member of the Icon Graduate Showcase 2011 and awarded the Nagoya Prize. She has also recently co-founded Studio Sudi and her wool designs were selected as a ‘Green Hero’ at Grand Designs Live 2011.

Oscar Medley-Whitfield and Harry Trimble’s residency takes inspiration from Southwark’s historic and once thriving ceramics industry, tapping into the unused resource of the Thames river clay to create a range of products that revive the history of ceramics in the area surrounding the Design Museum. Graduating from Kingston University and the University of Brighton respectively, the pair are currently in the process of forming a design studio: Studio Extract.

Lawrence Lek works as a sculptor, industrial designer and architect and will continue his investigation into the processes of natural growth and industrial fabrication through modular sculptural objects and environments. His work has been exhibited and performed in Japan, New York and London at the ICA and The Roundhouse. Born in Frankfurt to Malaysian-Chinese parents, he studied at Cambridge and the Architectural Association.

Yuri Suzuki explores the realms of sound, design and electronics. For his residency, Suzuki will be conducting a series of workshops to show the concept of ‘how things work’. Electronic products used to be fairly simple to repair but contemporary designs with their impenetrable, sleek exteriors make understanding their value and function difficult, encouraging consumers to purchase new products as opposed to repairing the old. Born in Tokyo, he studied at the Royal College of Art and after his graduation in 2008 opened his own studio in London.

The designers’ works are on display now in The Design Museum and will run through Jan. 27, 2013. For more details on the specific events and programs, click here.

Asif Khan, Designer in Residence 2010, has designed the exhibition.