DESIGN:Forget the economy, people still want style - just style that lasts

RECESSION, WHAT recession? Despite rumblings in the foundations of the property market, a quarter of a million people visited the Milan furniture fair this year, officially know as the Salone Internationazionale del Mobile.

This is the landmark event in the furnishing world, with most high-end design companies launching products at the 47-year-old show. Owners of Ireland's design-led furniture companies also jetted out to the Italian city in April to display their latest wares.

These included people from Mimo, Minima, 2 Cool Design, Design Classics Direct and the O'Driscoll brothers, although one company rep said that this year was her first and will be her last, such was the bun fight and the trekking involved, with whole sections of the fair - such as kitchens - being housed in halls the size of football pitches.

And despite the fair's reputation for showing what the future holds design-wise, there is an awful lot of mediocre designs among the 2,500 exhibitors. The bling factor remained high this year, although many visitors noted greater emphasis on quality and design. People want things that have value.

With so much on offer it was difficult to pick up definite trends but there are always companies and designer names that give a feel for what's happening at the sharp end.

Patricia Urquiola, commissioned by a number of companies, is one; Tom Dixon and enfant terrible Philippe Starck are others. People also keep an eye out for Dutch designers such as Tord Boontje, Marcel Wanders, and Maarten Baas, and German designer Ingo Maurer.

Companies that employ (or are owned by) these designers realise that they are probably their greatest selling point. At a time when furniture can be made cheaply in the east, high-end design-led European companies trade on their creative credentials.

Young companies such as Established and Sons, which has lived up to its name in a very short time, have grown quickly by building a design reputation through having furniture created by the likes of architects Zaha Hadid and Amanda Levete of Future Systems (which is designing a bridge for Dublin) and veteran furniture designers Jasper Morrison and Terence Woodgate. The fact that the company's chief executive is Alasdhair Willis, beau of Stella McCartney, probably did them no harm either.

The designers don't even have to be living. Companies such as Vitra, Cassina and Artek have wonderful archives of work by the greatest designers ever, including Charles and Ray Eames, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto. One designer, Christien Meindertsma, this year even dusted off the V&A's (Victoria and Albert museum) back catalogue for 17th century Dutch carpet designs, for Dutch company Droog.

Many of the prominent companies have also become savvy about green issues and if there was one major trend at Milan this year, this was it.

While many interiors companies have jumped onto the green swing, accusations are flying about who is verily verdant and who is employing eco-credentials as a marketing tool.

There are no clear-cut lines with green.

Some companies, such as Artek, point to their eco-longevity - Artek was established in 1935 to promote humane and innovative design - while others point out that it takes time to do research and change, but that they are doing so with an eye on the future.

Those with classical products on their hands have to adapt them while maintaining the furniture's integrity; for instance, Vitra has worked with the Eames organisation to develop more eco-friendly glues and fabrics.

Signs of going back to nature sprung up in other ways at Milan, for instance in Moooi's Paper lamp and wardrobe, and its Rabbit and Horse lamps and Pig table. "Who wouldn't want to impress their guests with a pig to serve the drinks?" says Moooi. Who indeed.

Dutch company Droog had a completely green offering in Milan which included a Cosy radiator chair by German designers SMAQ. The lounger can select various levels of heat for different parts of the body, so that you only need to heat yourself and not the whole room. Tom Dixon has designed a low-energy light, called Blow, that can be used indoors or out, with a copper coating to warm up the fluorescent (white) light.

Martino d'Esposito has designed a table for Droog called "Til death do us part", with a contract engraved on it that compels the owner to promise to cherish the table and not throw it away. While this is admirably green it also perhaps spells the way forward in our more uncertain times: to buy things that last, just like our grandparents did. Although the onus is on us to purchase heirlooms that are so timeless our great-grandchildren will covet them.