Future perfect

The importance of the Salone di Mobile furniture fair in Milan, along with its accompanying satellite shows, is hard to exaggerate. Designers, manufacturers and buyers come here every Apail from across the world to discover, as well as influence, future design trends.

Top British designers, from Robin Day, at nearly 90 surely the oldest, to Paul Cocksedge, shortlisted for Designer of the Year Award and, at 28, one of the youngest, come here to show off their latest designs, as well as to keep abreast of what others in the trade are up to.

Here, too, are top retailers such as Selfridges, as well as specialists including Conran, Aram and Purves & Purves, all of whom regard this as their main buying opportunity. What ' s likely to be on sale in British stores over the coming months will be shown here first.

This year retro is one of the major trends that emerged from the show, with designers abandoning last year's favourite of the spindly legged, plywood furniture of the Fifties, turning instead to the Sixties and Seventies for inspiration. New designs use flowing plastic and sensuously curved forms.

Colour, too, echoes the period, with the season's hot colours, lime green and orange, ousting last season's red. Pattern on upholstery disappears, but makes a surprise debut in plastic.

This year the plastic technology is incredible. The Meridiana chair designed by Christophe Pilet for Driade has decoration integrated into the final moulding and the transparent polycarbonate shell is crisscrossed with a grid of what appears like faceted diamond cuts.

Plat and Young use deep triangular indentations around the edge of their Fly chair (also for Driade), while equally intricate patterns are produced in largely transparent mouldings for

Kartell. These include

Usame, a coffee table-cum-magazine holder by Patricia Urquiola, and Battista Glossy, an expanding transparent trolley by Antonio Citterio.

Extensions to Philippe Starck's Ghost range, with moulded " engravings " on
18th century- style, seats, shelves, mirrors and tables, also use clear polycarbonate. This reworking of traditional forms in new materials is used in products for both Kartell and Xo.

Significant design innovation, however, usually only comes about when designers explore the structural potential of new materials. American company Heller retains architect Frank Gehry for a collection of tables and seating for indoor and outdoor use. The range uses an extraordinary plastic that can be both rigid and soft in the same moulding.