The Design Museum’s 7th annual Designers in Residence programme is a platform to celebrate new and emerging designers at an early stage in their career. The 2014 selected designers will spend four months responding to the theme of ‘disruption’, with their projects forming an exhibition at the Design Museum from 10 September 2014 until 1 February 2015. The 2014 Designers in Residence are: James Christian, Ilona Gaynor, Torsten Sherwood and Patrick Stevenson-Keating.
James Christian is an architectural designer and educator based in London. His work spans interior design, urbanism, architecture, objects and interactions and can be characterised by the use of playful wit to challenge current social and political themes. James studied at the University of Liverpool and the Royal College of Art where his final masters project: Free[tr]aid won the New London Architecture Prize. He has worked in architectural practises in London and Melbourne and currently divides his time between co-leading an interior architecture platform at Middlesex University and working as a designer for the architecture studio, Softroom.
Ilona Gaynor is a designer and filmmaker. She is the founder and Director of London based research studio, The Department of No. Her work draws upon use of image, rhetoric and cinematic tropes, to construct complexly precise plots, schemes and narrative texts. Since graduating from The Royal College of Art, Ilona’s work has been recognised internationally through various awards, exhibitions, books, publications and conferences including D&AD, Resonate, Blueprint, WeMakeMoneyNotArt and Architectural Design Magazine. Upon graduating, Ilona was awarded the Ridley Scott Prize and residency and she is currently faculty in Digital + Media at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Torsten Sherwood is a designer based in London. Central to his understanding of design is a holistic and multidisciplinary approach having experience in both architecture and product design. Particularly interested in how functionalist and vernacular designers use constraints to inform their design process, much of his work is influenced by an understanding of and experimentation with materials, construction and making. Having worked and studied in Bath, Florence and Copenhagen, Torsten completed his Architecture Part 1 at the University of Bath in the summer of 2013.
Patrick Stevenson-Keating is the founder of collaborative design studio Studio PSK. The studio works across multiple platforms, but specialises in ‘object driven speculative design’. The studio’s work explores tensions in society, science and emerging technologies and it has exhibited internationally in spaces including the TATE Modern, V&A Museum, Austin Convention Centre (Texas), Royal Albert Hall, Design For Death Convention Macau and the Mudam Museum amongst others. Patrick is also Module Leader of final year Product Design at Middlesex University, and guest lectures at a number of other European Universities.
Designers in Residence is a programme supported by the Design Museum to spot the next generation of designers and creatives with its Designers in Residence programme. This exhibition showcases the work of young designers at the beginning of their careers: recent alumni include Giles Miller, Asif Khan and Bethan Laura Wood. Last year’s Residents were Adam Nathaniel Furman, Eunhee Jo, Chloe Meineck and Thomas Thwaites. The programme includes a series of events and talks, offering the designers the opportunity to interact and engage with the public, whilst using this platform as a test-bed for ideas, designs and innovations.