| Village fête at the V&A The Village Fete at the V&A is established in the design calendar as one of the most eagerly anticipated cutting edge contemporary design events of the year. It made its first appearance in the Gardens of the V&A in the Summer of 2000. Young designers were invited to dream up stalls based on the traditional English fete. What better way, we thought, of getting inside their heads – of allowing some of Britain’s rising stars to show how their minds work without a plinth or a glass case getting in the way. Instead of seeing their designs in the rarefied context of the museum gallery, only a rickety trestle table would stand between them and the public, allowing visitors to meet them one on one, talk to them about their work, and even walk away with a piece of it. The Village Fete is a showcase of the best of young British contemporary design. It’s a unique event, where everyone can join in - families and children as well as the creative community. A carefully selected group of designers (the best of the up and coming, as well as some of the more established stars) are invited to conceive and run the stalls, offering games to play, competitions to enter, and prizes to win. Design is shown as being accessible, clever, entertaining and totally inclusive. Conceived and curated by Scarlet Projects in partnership with the V&A, Village Fete at the V&A is held in the V&A Garden as part of the V&A’s Friday Late programme, on the last weekend in July. As well as the Friday evening event, which attracts a young crowd mainly from the creative community, Village Fete is also open during the day on the Saturday, allowing families to enjoy the fun. Village Fete has around 25 stalls, run by up and coming young talent as well as young designers who have already established a name for themselves. These have included: Martino Gamper, Gitta Gschwendtner, Carl Clerkin, Graphic Thought Facility, Inflate, Fat, Hyperkit, Muf, abake and Tim Parsons. Jerwood prize-winning furniture designer Michael Marriott acts as our resident DJ, providing a suitably summery soundtrack to the event. Every year Scarlet Projects hold a design Tombola. We receive generous donations from all the design-led shops and companies in London – from Edra Campana Brothers chairs to Eileen Gray tables, from Jacobsen teapots to Verner Panton chairs, as well as products designed and donated by the stall holders, magazine subscriptions and all the latest design books. Everyone’s a winner! If you don’t draw a prize-winning ticket you’ll get a Chupa Chup lollipop. All profits from the Scarlet Projects stall go to the charity Motivation that helps developing countries design and make wheelchairs. We also hold a ‘Best in Show’ competition, where a well-known designer celebrity awards a prize and rosette to the best stall, and a children’s ‘come as a design icon’ Fancy Dress competition (past winners have included a Sony Walkman, a Stanley knife, a London Routemaster bus and Concorde). Judges and ‘Patrons of the Fete’ (who act as MC and also take a turn at manning some of the stalls) have included:
Village Fete also includes traditional elements such as flags and bunting, clowns and face painting, and traditional fete food - hot dogs and hamburgers, tea and cakes, candyfloss and ice cream. Entrance to the Fete is £1, with 50p concessions. Children get in free when accompanied by an adult. Most stalls charge between 50p and £1 to play games. Village Fete at the V&A is one of the most popular V&A evening events with between 3,000 to 5,000 people taking part. Year on year, the event attracts more people. Everyone who has ever had a stall in the Fete:
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