Design News

AN ELECTROLUX robot vacuum cleaner, Ernest Race's formica and aluminium chair (right) and a Baygen torch are some of the "icons of the century" chosen for display at the 20th Century at Olympia fair this weekend. Some 60 exhibitors from the UK and Europe will offer tempting antiques of the future, while a series of lectures includes Paul Reeves on the British Arts and Crafts movement (today, 2.30 and 4.30pm), Victor Arwas on Decorative Arts, from Art Nouveau to Modernism (today, 6.30pm) and Mark Haworth-Booth on Contemporary Photography (Sat 5.30pm).

20th Century at Olympia runs until Sunday 6 Dec at Olympia 2 Exhibition Centre, Hammersmith Road, London W14, Fri 11-8, Sat & Sun, 11-7; admission pounds 5. 0171-370 8899 (to book lectures)

THE CONRAN Foundation, set up in 1993, is a "living" archive of fin-de- siecle industrial products. Every year it stages an exhibition curated by a individual with a "non-museum" background. This year it is the photographer David Constantine, a founding director of the Motivation Charitable Trust. Unsurprisingly, his objects include photographic favourites such as the Olympus LT Zoom Camera, along with a Psion 5 Personal Organiser, a Saracen 2WD Electric Wheelchair and much more.

Conran Foundation Collection 1998 runs 4 December-31 January 1999 at the Design Museum, Shad Thames, London SE1, 11.30-6 daily (0171-378 6055)

THOSE WHO want to do more than dream of a white Christmas should head to Mission in London, whose latest exhibition, Carte Blanche, consists of objects in cool shades of pale. Look out for luminous furniture by Maiko Tsutsumi, pod storage systems by Kirsten Jones, and Hive's chic felt notebooks; plus snowy rugs and furniture.

Carte Blanche runs until 14 January 1999 at Mission, 45 Hereford Road, London W2. 0171-792 4633