telling tales

On Saturday, I was really hoping to go and check out the V&A's Village Fete Jubilee. Taking a contemporary approach to the traditional village fete, the event featured everything from an alternative take on the dog show to rock 'n' roll tiddlywinks: the perfect destination for a Saturday afternoon. But when I arrived at the V&A and saw the unbelievably ginormous queue for tickets, not even knowing that Tatty Devine would be there hosting their very own lucky dip fish bowl could persuade me to join in.

Instead I went to check out the V&A's latest exhibition: Telling Tales: Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design. The show, which is organised in three sections, The Forest Glade, The Enchanted Castle and Heaven and Hell, brings together a selection of furniture, lighting and ceramics "in the spirit of storytelling" - contemporary objects exploring fairy-tale, fantasy and fear. Enjoyably surreal, especially when a small child is bouncing up and down next to you and saying "ooh Mummy, look at the mole, isn't it sweet?"

Moulded Mole, Niels van Eijkand Miriam van der Lubbe, 2004

'The Fig Leaf' wardrobe, Tord Boontje for Meta, 2008

The Fall of the Damned Chandelier by Luc Merx

Telling Tales will be showing at the V&A until 18 October.

[Images via the V&A and Virtual Shoe Museum]