The Independent Weekend Review, 28/07/01, Christopher Hirst

Stalls of the unexpected. When design stars put on the village fête, expect surprising twist on familiar themes, says Christopher Hirst, including a clay iMac, candyfloss topiary and lucky dipsticks

A traditional village fête is taking place this afternoon from lpm-5pm. There will be clog dancing, cream teas, Pimm's by the bucket, a fancy-dress competition, a fortune-telling tent, crazy golf, candyfloss, a bran tub, face-painting, and a host of specially made craft items, ranging from tea cloths and furniture to T-shirts and custom-decorated throwaway knickers. Similar events take place in thousands of villages at this time of year. What makes this fête special is that the village in question is South Kensington in London, and the venue is the Pirelli Garden in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Oh, there is one more difference - behind the counters at the two dozen stalls will be some of Britain's hottest young designers.

As you might expect, the entertainments on offer at the V&A's Village fête are engagingly skewed from the norm. Rethought by the graphic design outfit Fibre, the crazy golf will have an urban theme, with obstacles such as a jack-knifed lorry, contraflow and roadworks. The treasure island, where visitors will plant designer flags in a mountain of sand to win a treasure chest, is organised by the website-builders Hyperkit. Prizes in the tombola will include a shocking-pink chair by Verner Panton of Denmark.

Even the children's fancy dress, to be judged by Stephen Bayley, will have a classic design theme. At last year's fête, the winner was a Swiss Army Knife. This year, one designer offspring - all of eight months old - is slated to come as a round tea-bag.

"It is a chance to have a laugh with design stars like Ron Arad and Matthew Hilton," says Sarah Gaventa of Scarlet Projects, the curatorial team that is working on the fête with the V&A. "No one is trying to preach about design, but you can take home work by real designers." The furniture-designer Martin Gamper and product-designer Rainer Spehl are making a range of tables, stools and storage boxes on the spot. "We're bringing along some bits of wood and MDF. People can pick out the bits they like and we'll make something from them. The cost of the objects will be reasonable - £5-1O," Gamper said; Not bad for real designer furniture.

An outfit called Fat ("essentially we're an architectural company, but we're quite broad in that interpretation") is selling a range of contemporary design classics from its stall, which will be called the Konran shop. The difference between these items and ones more likely to be flogged by Sir Terence is that they are made of clay. "We're producing an iMac in clay," said Sam Jacob of Fat. "It's much more interesting than a real iMac, but it doesn't have quite as much RAM. We'll also be making a Starck lemon-squeezer that will work better than the real thing. It could hardly work worse."

Candyfloss is the responsibility of pink iconoclasts Precious McBane, otherwise Evlyn Smith and Meriel Scott. 'We've hired a machine, but we haven't had a lesson yet," admitted Evlyn. "Maybe we'd better; or we could end up looking like a couple of big snowmen. The form of the candyfloss depends on how good we are. It could be topiary or a small grazing cow or a blob on a stick" The candyfloss will, of course, be pink as will Precious McBane's other line at the fête - decorated knickers. "We're making fancy pants embroidered with baubles, beads and precious things. Those will be prizes, but we're also selling throwaway knickers that have been personally treated."

Other cutting-edge designers are also revealing an unexpected talent for the traditional fête. UP is devoting its energies to that under-regarded art form, the tea towel. Last year, it produced a range featuring such appropriate images as U-bends, drainers and plug-holes. This year it is adding to the range with an "I Love You" tea towel, which aims to "combine domestic chores with romance'. Lifeform promises to have a gigantic Spirograph in operation, while Paul Khera and Maria Beddoes are providing designer versions of "Love" and "Hate" tattoos. Jam is mounting a lucky dipstick competition - pull out the dipstick with oil on it and win a special Jam T-shirt - while Arash Kaynama is producing a version of "Squeal, piggy, squeal", a traditional game in which competitors smash up papier maché animals to find hidden prizes.

BUMP ("We're best described as graphic didicoys") is responsible for the clairvoyancy tent "We'll be offering tea-leaf and palm readings, but we may also use chicken feet and a dagger," said BUMP's Jon Morgan. "Of course it isn't a fake. Our previous clients have included Bill Clinton, Joan Collins and Chris Tarrant. We know for a fact that they're all satisfied customers. We're going to have adventurous facial hair open shirts and hairy chairs." Visitors can join this hirsuteness, because BUMP is also offering a face-painting service. "We're offering moustache, side-burns and beard in any combination. Brown, black and ginger whiskers will be available. Or maybe just black. After all, this is a designer fête."

The Village fête takes place 1-5pm this afternoon in the V&A's Pirelli Garden. Standard museum entry prices apply, but there is no extra charge to enter the fête.