Now in its sixth year, the Design Museum’s annual Designers in Residence program provides a platform to celebrate new and emerging designers at an early stage in their career. This year’s residents, who will be a core part of exhibitions throughout the year, were selected through an open call in response to a brief to create a piece of work based on the theme of “identity.” The designers were invited to explore how design can be used to convey, create or reflect a sense of identity through an object or experience. The results will be displayed in the Design Museum starting this month as part of the London Design Festival.

From left: Eunhee Jo, Chloe Meineck, Adam Nathaniel Furman and Thomas Thwaites

The 2013 Designers in Residence are as follows:

Adam Nathaniel Furman will explore the concept of identity through a cabinet of curiosities. The cabinet will contain products made entirely from 3D printing and Slip Casting. The project follows a fictional journey of an individual’s intimate and obsessive search for identity. Furman graduated from the Architectural Association in 2009 and is currently working at Ron Arad Associates. His recent designs use new fabrication techniques including 3D printing, as well as more traditional ceramic production to express his interest in architectural history, theory and speculative architecture. Explore his blog for more information.

Eunhee Jo’s research looks at the surface quality of things. During her residency Jo will develop new surfaces made of fabric or paper, which will be embedded with technology. Jo will use this embedded material to create a light and "Hi-Fi" system that offer new possible encounters with what we regard as everyday items and in doing so creating new aesthetic possibilities. After studying Mechanical System and Design Engineering at Hongik University, Jo has completed the combined Innovation Design Engineering Masters at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College, London. She has previously worked at Seoul based Cloud and Co, a design studio founded by Yeongkyu Yoo.

Chloe Meineck will develop a memory box to be used by people suffering with dementia. Seeking to create an alternative therapy for patients, Meineck’s Music Memory Box can be used by individuals and the families of those who have a confused or fading sense of personal memory and identity. Meineck studied 3D Design at Brighton University and has recently completed a Craft and Technology residency funded by the Crafts Council in association with Autonomatic at Falmouth University’s Academy for Innovation and Research, PM Studio in Bristol and iDAT in Plymouth.

Thomas Thwaites will explore how the collating of personal information from the internet could, in addition to boosting consumer knowledge, also be used to inform people about themselves and their own identity. Thwaites will develop an interactive webpage that will act like a “self-help book” and may aid people to make some choice changes about their personality and identity. Thwaites studied a Human Sciences degree at University College, London, and also Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art, London.