Design lines

PHILIPPE STARCK is the epitome of the wacky Gallic designer: his spidery lemon-squeezers and luminous lamps are bold, brilliant and very covetable Now the long-time enfant terrible has hit 50, and to wish him Happy Birthday the design shop Purves & Purves is hosting an exhibition of his work, including his latest creation, a transparent plastic chair.

`50 Years Starck' is at Purves & Purves, 80-81 & 83 Tottenham Court Road, London W1 (0171-580 8223) to 11 March

THIS IS your last chance to enter the new Peugeot Design Awards. The competition is open to creators of furniture, lighting, metalware, ceramics & glass, and textiles, The prizes include pounds 1,000 for a winner, plus pounds 500 for two runners-up per category, and pounds 15,000 for the overall winner. Closing date is 26 February.

For an application form, send an A4 sae with a 31p stamp to Peugeot Design Awards, G2, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, London SE1 9PH (website www.peugeot.co.uk/design awards)

TO TIE in with Modern Britain 1929-39, at London's Design Museum, the Twentieth Century Society has organised three days of talks and outings on the artists and designers included in it. Among the speakers and subjects are Robert Elwall on Ben Nicholson's Textiles and Benedict Read on "Herbert Read: `the Pope of Modern Design'?".

Modern Britain 1929-39 conference takes place 5-7 March, pounds 20 a day (students pounds 10). Bookings, Jill Sack, The Twentieth Century Society, 77 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ (0171- 250 3857)

MECHANICAL BEAUTY is the aim of Steel, Stars and Glass at the Science Museum, an exhibition featuring five cars which tell the Mercedes Benz story from the 1888 Benz, the first Mercedes to arrive in Britain, to the new A-Class. Rarely seen photographs by Zoltan Glass, encapsulating the romantic history of cars, accompany the exhibition.

Steel, Stars and Glass is at the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 until 28 March (0171-938 8000)