Design Lines

FOR A gilded weekend, try the annual Goldsmiths' Fair. The sterling setting of the Goldsmiths' Hall alone will make it a rich aesthetic treat. The fair, now in its 16th year, contains work by more than 80 jewellers and silversmiths, including pieces for table, boudoir and baby. Items can be bought or commissioned.

Goldsmiths' Hall, Foster Lane, London, EC2 until Sunday; today 11am-7pm, tomorrow and Sunday 11am-5pm; pounds 3 (0171-606 7010)

A SMALL exhibition of modern spun-gold textiles opens today at the British Museum. They are based on 17th- and 18th-century Mughal and Safavid "cloths of gold", with patterns woven on to metallic grounds and then made into sashes, coats and trimmings. These silks were made by Asha, a hand-weaving workshop set up in 1993 by Raul Jain, who talks about the exhibition at 11.30am and 12.30pm on Monday and Wednesday.

`Minakar: spun gold and woven enamel' is at the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1 until 3 January. Entrance to the exhibition is free

A SET of pattern books drawn up at the Derby Porcelain Factory from 1780 to 1810 is to be sold at Sotheby's next month unless Derby Museum can come up with the estimated price of pounds 80,000 by 16 October. They contain nearly 400 designs for plates and 750 for teacups. This is the only large set of designs to have survived from any 18th-century English porcelain factory. The appeal stands at pounds 35,000; pounds 45,000 is needed within two weeks.

Send cheques to Derby Pattern Books Appeal, Derby Museum & Art Gallery, The Strand, Derby, DE1 1BS (01332 716669)

DRINK IN the millennium with a magnum of English sparkling brut bearing your own label. Chapel Down Wines is holding a competition to design a label for its 2,000 Magnums of Epoch Brut NV. The winner receives a cheque for pounds 500 and six magnums; there are three prizes for runners-up.

Entry forms from Tenterden Vineyard, Small Hythe, Tenterden, Kent, TN30 7NG (01580 763033). The closing date is 30 October