Milan furniture fair 2009: Best in show

Button tufting, your 15 minutes are coming to an end. The latest trend for upholstered pieces is quilting — done up like a Chanel handbag or, as shown here, as a humble, homey look. The Kvilt sofa from the Swedish firm Garsnas had simple peg legs and plain diamond-quilted fabric — a welcome departure from over-the-top designs at the fair.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Modular doesn’t have to be minimalist. At the Moroso booth, the Spanish-born, Milan-based designer Patricia Urquiola riffed on Suzani prints, Gustav Klimt and possibly Space Invaders to create a decorative fabric for a sectional.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec created Clouds, a modular system of felt-covered foam pieces that can be assembled as wall decor in nearly infinite ways. It will be available through Ligne Roset at a cost of about $440 for a box of eight pieces.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Vinyl wire is woven into light fixtures and a weather-resistant (and surprisingly heavy) chair, both created by Paola Navone, artistic director of the Italian furniture manufacturer Gervasoni.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Enduringly mod, the butterfly chair does not squander materials with a minimalist frame and sling seat. At the Milan furniture fair, Eric Degenhardt’s design for the German firm Richard Lampert came in a bold blue. Other variations at the show came in basic black on a metal frame, or with a brass base and glazed leather seat.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

With his outrageous personal appearance (pink suits, out-there eyewear), designer Karim Rashid sometimes seems more interested in being famous than in being good. At the Fuori Salone, an offshoot of the Milan fair, he did best when applying his Pop sensibilities to basic products. Rashid’s Kawa, his vision of bathroom fixtures for Cisal and a set of doors for Albed had the simplicity of shape and boldness of color that reminded people why Umbra has sold more than 1 million of his Garbo wastebaskets.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

The Spanish company Uno Design turned a minimalist felt-covered seat in yellow, one of the trendiest colors of the season, into El Ultimo Grito, an exuberant modernist wing chair with the addition of a flared mesh back.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

A parking garage in Milan’s trendy Tortona district was turned into an impromptu international design show called Tutto Bene, where these porcelain fire logs for gas hearths were on display, looking as if someone had turned furniture into kindling. The designers were Bruce Tharp and Stephanie Munson, a Chicago team that goes by Adieu by Materious, with Greg Bethel.  (David A. Keeps / Los Angeles Times)

Shigeru Ban’s system of do-it-yourself seating for Artek consists of 10 modular pieces that allow users to build black, white or striped stools, seats and benches. It’s built with UPM ProFi, an innovative “wood” made from recycled paper and plastic that is weather-resistant and recyclable.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

The clean lines and primary colors say IKEA, but this room setting is by Novo, a design firm in Tuscany that sidesteps the region’s heavily carved and gilded period furniture. Clever design details include a bench backrest with hooks shaped like giant push pins.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Jasper Morrison’s Trattoria Family table and chairs for Magis reinterpreted traditional woven rush seats in plastic, adding a matching ribbed backrest. Available in a range of colors, it looked freshest — and most like its inspiration — in a transparent yellow.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Having the last word — we hope — on the craze for deers and antlers in home decor, Tatsuo Yamamoto showed a collection of Bambi chairs. Made from metal, the chairs had dainty fawn legs and a coat of faux fur that re-created the spots and coloring of a baby deer.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Known for its Rococo furniture, Versace dialed down its designs and embraced Art Deco, Streamline Moderne and Hollywood Regency. This dining chair mixes a midcentury Danish back with a modern Continental base lacquered in Chinese red.  (David A. Keeps / Los Angeles Times)

Richard Hutten’s Playing With Tradition rug for I+I Carpets deconstructed a traditional Persian rug. The intricate pattern is reduced to a series of thin stripes.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Dutch designer Ineke Hans perches by her Fly chair, part of a collection called Neo Country for Cappellini for Arco. It’s lined with a leather seat and back rest in a dusty shade of lilac, one of the most eye-grabbing colors shown in Milan.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Seats for the antisocial or the ideal workstation for airports? The enormous wing chairs by Prooff and the over-scaled reading lights above provided a little haven for the weary at the Milan show.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

Anyone who fell in love with the adorable Chairy in “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” might have a soft spot for this quilted armchair by Normann of Copenhagen. The Danish design company also showcased a charmingly homemade-looking shelving unit in vivid yellow.  (Franco Forci / For The Times)

During design week in Milan, events outside the show included the opening of an interesting home decor store called Skitsch. Following American stores such as Moss in Los Angeles and New York and Limn in San Francisco, which position furniture showrooms as art galleries, Skitsch carries commissioned pieces and special editions by more than two dozen international designers. An online store for U.S. customers is set to launch in early summer.  (David A. Keeps / Los Angeles Times)