Alternative Designer Village Fête at the V&A

FRIDAY LATE

FÊTEFUL ATTRACTION!

Alternative Designer Village Fête at the V&A
29 & 30 August 2003

The premier alternative design event of the year is back with a vengeance! The hugely successful V&A and Scarlet Projects' Village Fête returns to the V&A garden on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 August. There will be new designer games to play and fabulous design prizes to win by some of the most sought after stars of the design world.

YBDs (Young British Designers) such as Inflate, Carl Clerkin, Gitta Gschwendtner, Bump and Graphic Thought Facility, will bring the traditional English fête bang up-to-date with idiosyncratic versions of old fête favourites. Village Fête is a fun way to polish up your design knowledge and acquire future design classics straight from the designers.

There's no chance of winning tins of condensed milk or mushy peas on Scarlet Projects' ever popular tombola*. Players will win design classics of the past and future and the star prize is the highly desirable 'Portsmouth Bench' by Barber Osgerby. Other fabulous prizes have been donated by Applied Arts Agency, SCP, Vessel, Vitra, Fritz Hansen, Aram, Skandium, Mathmos, Muji, Habitat, Inflate, Coexistence, Alma, Flin Flon, Playroom, Viaduct, Artomatic, twentytwentyone, Beo Concepts, LSA, Thames & Hudson and Magma.

The stall-holders list reads like the hottest British design directory including Multistorey, Carl Clerkin, Gitta Gschwendtner, Alex Rich, Amos Marchant, Bump, Hyperkit, Graphic Thought Facility, James Goggin, L&R, Unity Peg, Jon Hares and Nick Barber.

Visitors will be able to create their own t-towels with the help of leading designers Unity Peg, or make special rubbings from Hyperkit's 'brasses' of design icons in the V&A collection.

If you ever fancied yourself as the new Jude Law or Nicole Kidman then a trip to Multistorey's stall could make your dream come true. They will be turning visitors into 'cover stars' of Vogue, Playboy, Anglers Weekly or Gay Times.

'Picture Pairs' by Arash Kaynama and Kelly Sant is based on the traditional card game pairs. Identical twin paintings will be placed face down on the table and if the player locates the two matching paintings they win them. Alternatively, players can make their own 'pictorial chaos posters' with designers L&R who have invented a clever drawing machine using a pendulum and suspended felt-tip pens.

Barry the D-j (designer Michael Marriot) will be pumping out the tunes at the Village Fête disco.

SATURDAY 30 AUGUST
The excellent 'Dress as a Design Icon' kids fancy dress competition, held on Saturday afternoon, has inspired the creation of elaborate and inventive costumes over the past few years. Past winners have included Arthur as a Swiss army knife, Noah as a Arne Jacobsen mixer tap and Georgie as a Sony Walkman. Prizes will be awarded by a special guest. There will also be a clown and face painter to entertain the kids.

*NOTE:
All profits from Scarlet Projects' tombola will go to Motivation, the charity who design wheel chairs for use in third world countries.

· Village Fête will be open for the Friday Late on 29 August from 6.30pm to 10.00pm and on Saturday 30 August from 1.00pm to 5.00pm.
Entry to the V&A Village Fête is £1.00, 50p for concessions and free to children accompanied by an adult. Entry to the V&A is FREE
· Friday Late is held every last Friday in the month. Each event explores a contemporary idea, ranging across fashion, design, music, art and performance. For Friday Late, the V&A is open from 6.30pm * 10.00pm and entry to the museum is free.
· The Fête was conceived and is organised by Scarlet Projects, a creative consultancy that aims to bring contemporary architecture and design to a wider public audience.

For further information about Village Fête at the V&A:
Please call Helen Beeckmans in the V&A Press Office on 020 7942 2503 email: h.beeckmans@vam.ac.uk NOT FOR PUBLICATION